Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what the Government's policy is on ensuring that properties looking to erect an additional floor require planning permission.

To support the supply of new homes, national planning policy expects that local planning policies and decisions should respond positively to suitable opportunities to deliver additional new homes above existing residential and commercial premises.

We have introduced new permitted development rights to allow certain existing residential and commercial buildings to extend upwards by up to two storeys to create new homes and extra living space. The rights are subject to prior approval by the local planning authority on specific matters, including potential impacts on the amenity of neighbours. This ensures that people who might be affected by such a development can feed their views into the decision making process.

We continue to keep the rights under review.