Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he has taken to decrease the backlog in cases waiting inspection from the planning inspectorate.
The Inspectorate has been implementing actions to maintain performance in the areas currently performing well and to improve end-to-end times for other casework. In the short term those actions are focused around increasing capacity by:
The Planning Inspectorate is an Arm’s Length Government Body with responsibility for allocation of resources, prioritisation and overall operational performance.
Ministers regularly meet with the Planning Inspectorate and are taking an active interest in all aspects of operational performance at the agency. Further discussions will continue on how to reduce the time taken for decisions.