Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to improve the capacity of the planning system.

The Government recognises that many local planning authorities, as well as the wider planning sector, are facing capacity and capability challenges. Our broad programme of capacity and capability support, working with partners across the planning sector, aims to ensure that local planning authorities have the skills and capacity they need, both now and in the future.

In order to support increased resourcing of local planning authorities, we have announced our intention to increase planning fees by 35% for major applications and 25% for all other applications by the Summer 2023.