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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what support he is providing to local communities (a) in the preparation of Neighbourhood Plans and (b) facing legal challenges from prospective developers to their Neighbourhood Plan proposals.

Government is making available £34.5 million of support for neighbourhood planning for 2018-22. This is comprised of our £26 million Neighbourhood Planning Support Programme and an additional £8.5 million funding, announced in May, to help communities bring forward affordable homes for sale in their neighbourhood plans. The revised National Planning Policy Framework confirms the important protections for neighbourhood plans and we will continue to look at ways in which Government can help strengthen and protect them.