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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to help ensure that local (a) planning committees and (b) communities are consulted as part of the planning process.

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill does not change the consultation rules on local planning applications.

Representations can be made by interested parties, and these are considered by the relevant decision maker – whether that be a local planning officer or planning committee.

On 28 May, the government published a technical consultation on reform of planning committees. It can be found on gov.uk here.