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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment the Department has made of the potential implications for former mining communities in Walsall Borough of reducing the categories of planning application on which the Mining Remediation Authority must be consulted; and what safeguards will ensure that development is not approved on land affected by unrecorded mine workings or mining-related ground instability.

The Department has made no such specific assessment.

The government response to the consultation on reforms to the statutory consultee system, which was published on 17 August and can be found on gov.uk here, confirmed that the Mining Remediation Authority would no longer routinely comment on the discharge of planning conditions and would expand its standing advice for lower-risk development, enabling it to focus on higher-risk proposals.

The Mining Remediation Authority will support coalfield local planning authorities as these changes are implemented, including through updated guidance, and the government will work closely with it to monitor implementation of the reforms.

Ground conditions remain a material planning consideration, and national planning policy is clear that it is the responsibility of the developer to demonstrate that a site is safe and suitable for development. Where investigatory or remedial mine workings are required, or where ground works would interact with coal seams, coal workings or mine entries, these activities remain subject to the Mining Remediation Authority's permitting regime.