Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to increase community involvement in the planning process.

We are going to ensure that there is more engagement and more local democracy, not less. Currently less than 1% of people engage with local plan-making, and only 3% with individual planning applications. We will ensure that the planning system is faster, with plans produced in 30 months, not seven years, and more accessible so that millions more engage with it.

We also want more neighbourhood plans in northern and urban areas. We will ensure that they become ubiquitous and remain a key part of the planning system.