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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the likelihood of some local authorities not having agreed upon and adopted a local plan by the end of 2017.

As of 30 November 2016, 37 (11%) of 338 local planning authorities had not published a local plan since 2004 and 90(27%) were yet to adopt one.

We expect all authorities to have a plan in place and to keep their plan up to date. We have put that requirement beyond doubt by legislating for it in the Neighbourhood Planning Bill. Information provided to my department from local planning authorities and the Planning Inspectorate indicates that by the end of 2017, one authority may not have published a plan and 66 may not have adopted a local plan.