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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the national scheme of delegation on people living in rural (a) communities and (b) villages.

Following the introduction of a national scheme of delegation, people living in rural communities and villages will continue to be able to make representations on individual planning applications, irrespective of who the decision maker is.

On 28 May 2025, the government published a technical consultation on reform of planning committees. The consultation is open until 23 July 2025 and can be found on gov.uk here.

We welcome responses from people living in rural communities and villages, and their elected representatives.