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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, what assessment she has made of the potential impact on local democratic oversight of replacing individual local authority schemes with a national scheme for when planning committees should delegate decisions to planning officers.

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill includes a regulation-making power to issue statutory guidance on a national scheme of delegation.

The government intend to formally consult on proposals relating to the delegation of planning decisions in England alongside the Bill’s passage.