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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether the Government plans to bring forward proposals in the Neighbourhood and Planning and Infrastructure Bill to remove the requirement for developers to carry out archaeological and wildlife surveys before starting housing projects.

There are no plans to change a Local Authority's ability to propose conditions that meet the policy tests in the National Planning Policy Framework; including conditions related to archaeology and wildlife. The Neighbourhood Planning and Infrastructure Bill will include measures to ensure that pre-commencement planning conditions are only imposed where they are absolutely necessary.