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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 27 January 2025 to Question 22643 on Planning Permission: Applications and to the Answer of 7 February 2025 to Question 27165 on Chinese Embassy: Planning Permission, whether the guidance entitled Planning propriety guidance: planning casework decisions, published on 16 December 2021, applies to decisions to call in a planning application; and whether there is any additional guidance on this matter.

A decision on whether or not to call in a planning application is a matter of jurisdiction and does not deal with the merits of the case.

The decision to call in these applications was made on the basis of the policy set out in the Written Ministerial Statement of 26 October 2012.

The published propriety guidance relates particularly to recovered appeals and called in decisions, but the guidance is clear that the key propriety principles also apply to decisions on other planning matters.