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 ensure that people living in rural (a) communities and (b) villages will be able to contribute to planning decisions, in the context of the national scheme of delegation.

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.