Written questions by Dickson.

Communities and Local Government, what funding his Department plans to provide to support the improvement of playground facilities in England.

To support the improvement of playgrounds, the Government is providing the £18 million playgrounds fund. This fund is a targeted programme to improve children’s access to safe, inclusive, high‑quality local play spaces in communities where it has fallen furthest behind. £18 million over two years will support local authorities to buy new or refurbish up to 200 playgrounds across England, prioritising areas with high child deprivation and poor access to safe, local play space.While the playgrounds fund is a dedicated pot, other sources of funding could be used for this purpose. This includes local authorities being able to draw from the most recent local government financial settlement, which is our most significant step yet to make English local government more sustainable. The government is making good on long overdue promises to fundamentally update the way we fund local authorities. We are delivering fairer funding, targeting money where it is needed most through the first multi-year Settlement in a decade.The Government’s Pride in Place Programme will also provide up to £5.8 billion over ten years to support 284 neighbourhoods identified as most in need. Each neighbourhood under the programme will be given up to £20 million of flexible funding and support. In each place, the local neighbourhood board will work with the community to decide how this funding is spent, which could include investment in local regeneration projects such as parks and playgrounds where these reflect local priorities.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to research from the University of Manchester article entitled The right to play: making play a policy and practice priority, published on 29 September 2025, how his Department will ensure that planning for new developments includes access to green spaces for schools, children and young people.

I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to Question UIN 113540 on 2 March 2026, and UIN 111684 on 24 February 2026.

Communities and Local Government, whether the statutory guidance entitled Allotment disposal guidance: safeguards and alternatives, published on 30 January 2014, remains in effect.

The 2014 statutory allotment disposal guidance remains in effect.

Communities and Local Government, what recent progress her Department has made on planning reform.

On 30 July we opened an eight week consultation on a revised National Planning Policy Framework.As well as reversing the damaging anti-supply changes made by the previous government in December 2023, proposed reforms include making housing targets mandatory, strengthening policy support for brownfield development, and the targeted release of low-quality grey belt land within the green belt.The consultation will run until Tuesday 24 September.