Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on the environmental merits of brownfield regeneration rather than development on green field sites.

The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has not recently had such discussions with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government. The Government supports the re-use as far as possible of suitable brownfield land for housing and other development needs over development on green field sites. We have announced further measures to support regeneration of brownfield land in our ‘Planning for the future’ policy paper dated 12 March 2020. Planning practice guidance also recognises that some brownfield land is of high environmental value, providing habitats for protected or priority species and other environmental benefits.