Town and Country Planning

With this we shall discuss the following motions:

That an humble Address be presented to He...

I thank the Minister for finding the time for this debate in response to the prayer motions that ...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

In a moment.

In the spirit of cross-party co-operation, I happily quote the hon. Member for...

I am surprised at the hon. Gentleman’s tone. He and I got on very well as co-members of the Selec...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. In terms of Grenfell, I referred to the draft bu...

I declare an interest, as chair of the all-party group on healthy homes and buildings that sits i...

I wholeheartedly agree with those powerful and pertinent points.

The quality of housing—the...

On the point about local democracy, I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will be as pleased as me to...

Labour and Conservative councillors, parties of all political persuasions, are expressing major c...

A number of colleagues want to get in on this debate. I will start by having two speeches with a ...

I have an email from someone from a constituency outside my own who bought a flat 13 years ago an...

The planning system is there so that individuals and organisations can develop sites and building...

Order. We are now moving to a four-minute time limit.

5.35 pm

I believe in liberalising planning regulations in the sense that I want more affordable housing f...

Does my right hon. Friend agree that quality is just as important as quantity?

My hon. Friend is right, and that is the kernel of my argument today. What has happened is that t...

Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is important that the 300,000 dwellings per year target i...

Order. We need interventions to be short. Lots of Members want to speak, and they will not be abl...

I go back to my previous argument: we need quality housing. We need a lighter planning regime, be...

I follow that excellent speech by my right hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Robert Halfon) by s...

When I raised concerns about the permitted development rights at Prime Minister’s questions a cou...

The scrutiny provided by the local planning process is a core part of our democracy and a vital m...

I rise to oppose these plans. What have we learned since the war? When we think back to the new t...

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for calling me to speak in this important debate, secured by my ...

Order. I need to ask the hon. Lady to bring her remarks to a close now, I am afraid.

I call...

I invite all Members, especially the Ministers, to come and have a look at an example of permitte...

I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.

T...

This set of SIs is an answer to a massively important question about how we build more homes that...

Macmillan homes, built after the Bevan homes in the 1950s, were actually built to smaller space s...

I am delighted to take the correction. And there was me praising a Conservative! What Macmillan d...

As someone who also represents an area of national beauty, if we do not build houses in brownfiel...

I am grateful for that intervention, because I am about to talk about that.

The key point i...

I refer to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.

I start by endorsing w...

I would like to briefly address my remarks to both the SIs and the wider changes that the Governm...

I rise to oppose these three SIs. The planning system exists specifically to address and balance ...

I call Rachel Hopkins—I need you to sit down at 6.27 pm.

6.24 pm

I will do my best, Madam Deputy Speaker. I speak as a local councillor in Luton, and I and many o...

I am grateful for this wide-ranging and interesting debate and to the hon. Members on both sides ...

I am really worried that in my constituency, lessening red tape also lessens approval from the lo...

Through the prior approval process, communities and local authorities will have rights to say yes...

Will the Minister give way?

I will not give way. As a further safeguard, the local planning authority must advertise the prio...

My right hon. Friend refers to the right to refuse prior approval on the basis of the external ap...

Character and aspect are important, and if the proposed building were to be out of character with...

Will the Minister give way?

If my hon. Friend will forgive me, I will carry on, but I am always happy to speak to him beyond ...

I thank Members from across the House for all the powerful contributions made today. I am sorry t...

Order. The hon. Gentleman must resume his seat.

6.40 pm

One and a half hours having e...