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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the (a) water and waste, (b) airport and (c) national networks National Policy Statements will be updated by summer 2025.

On 8 July 2024, the Chancellor committed to updating relevant National Policy Statements within 12-months.

The government recently launched a consultation on proposed amendments to the Energy National Policy Statements (NPSs) 1, 3 and 5 and intends to consult shortly on other draft amended National Policy Statements.

These draft amended NPSs will be laid in Parliament for consideration as prescribed by the Planning Act 2008. Completion of the update processes is subject to the outcome and timings of those consultation and Parliamentary timings.

The National Networks NPS is not included in this as it was designated in May 2024.

The government has invited proposals for a third runway at Heathrow to be brought forward by the summer. Once proposals have been received, the government will review the Airports NPS, which provides the basis for decision making on granting development consent.

Further to this, we are introducing legislation through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill to make at least five-yearly reviews of all NPSs a legal requirement. This would include a transitional period in which NPSs that are currently out of date (i.e. more than 5 years old at the time of Royal Assent) will have two years from the bill being enacted to update their NPSs in line with the legislation. All other NPSs will be required to be updated within 5 years of their designation of latest update.