Sustainable Development in the Localism Bill - one-off oral evidence session announced
14 February 2011
The Environmental Audit Committee will take evidence from the Town and Country Planning Association; Friends of the Earth; Campaign to Protect Rural England; and representatives from the Department for Communities and Local Government.
The Environmental Audit Committee is announcing a one-off evidence session on the Government’s intention to introduce a ‘presumption in favour of sustainable development’. This was part of the Coalition-Government’s proposal to reform the planning system but this is not included in the Bill. Instead the Government has announced that the ‘presumption in favour of sustainable development’ will be included in a new overarching Government planning policy document, the National Planning Policy Framework, which will not be subject to Parliamentary debate.
Witnesses
The session is open to the press and the public and will take place on Wednesday 16 February 2011, in the Thatcher Room, Portcullis House.
The witnesses will be:
At c3.00 pm
- Dr Hugh Ellis, Chief Planner, Town and Country Planning Association,
- Naomi Luhde-Thompson, Planning Policy Advisor, Friends of the Earth; and
- Fiona Howie, Head of Planning, Campaign to Protect Rural England
Followed by, at approximately 3.30 pm
- Steve Quartermain, Chief Planner, Department for Communities and Local Government;
- Stephanie Hurst, Deputy Director: Planning - Environment, Department for Communities and Local Government;
- Michael Bingham, Deputy Head, Planning - Development Management; Department for Communities and Local Government; and
- Robert Ledsome, Deputy Director, Climate Change and Sustainable Development, Department for Communities and Local Government