Speeches by Pennycook.

“In very general terms, a series of factors are constraining house building across the country. We inherited a planning system that was faltering on all fronts. It was failing to deliver the outcomes that many communities want to see in terms of infrastructure that is of quality, good design and sustainable, and the inf…”

“I am Matthew Pennycook, the Minister for Housing and Planning.”

“The statement is on the front of the Bill, in terms of the obligations under the Act. The Government intends always to have environmental considerations at the heart of all policymaking. As you will be aware, Chair, we have not published an environmental principles policy statement—that is not routine practice—but envi…”

“I cannot comment on advice that I have not seen.”

“The five principles in relation to this Bill?”

“They are set out clearly in the Bill. You will have noted the very specific amendment on the overall improvement test that we made in the package released last week to insert the word “materially”, so the conservation measures must be materially significant. The overall improvement test is a test that the Secretary of …”

“I think you are referring to the challenge—and it is a challenge—of the absorption rate that we are partly constrained by. I have never been shy about saying that we are over-reliant on a speculative development model that constrains housing supply and drives sub-optimal outcomes—I am very clear on that point. We want …”

“There is a specific DEFRA funding commitment, which I will let Minister Creagh speak to, and it is incredibly welcome from our point of view. The measures that I would highlight most in allowing local authorities to fill those skills gaps are the measures in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill that allow local authori…”

“We will split this up, Chair, if that is amenable to you, perhaps with Minister Creagh taking ecology; I will specifically speak to construction and planning. As I have said from the moment I was appointed, there are a series of very significant constraints, or challenges, that we need to overcome in significantly boos…”

“On future standards, we will obviously consult on those later this year. In terms of embodied carbon, very specifically, as I said, we think the appropriate way forward is to update the relevant PPG. That is not only to assist local authorities in considering carbon emissions within the plan-making process, but to supp…”

“As I have said, we recognise that embodied carbon can account for a significant proportion of a building’s whole-life carbon emissions, and that managing not only carbon emissions but carbon storage is vital to mitigating the speed and impact of climate change. On the planning side of things, we went out to consultatio…”

“The NPPF contains a number of things in terms of climate policy, climate mitigation and adaptation. The embodied carbon intensity of building materials comes from the whole supply chain. I know the Committee will understand that the action is therefore Government-wide in that respect to decarbonise supply chains and cr…”

“It is for the Government to make the statement that they feel it is compliant.”

“I would only emphasise what I have already said. The section 19 declaration is there on the front of the Bill. It is not routine for the Government to publish EPPSs. I had this in my own Select Committee the other day. I am always asked to be far more transparent than every previous Government, and just publish all our…”

“From my perspective, we have complied with the requirements of the Environment Act as they pertain to this piece of legislation.”

“I will characterise the approach, and I will say something about how we intend to help guide its application. The specific intent of a vision-led development for transport is to move away from this sub-optimal predict and provide approach, which too often provides for car-dependent development of the kind that we would…”

“A precise definition is in the glossary of the NPPF. I apologise if your Clerks suggested that question to you. It is there in black and white. As I said, it wants to move away from the historic approach—”

“They relate together. As we roll out new reforms like environmental delivery plans, we will be monitoring and carefully evaluating their impact to ensure they do. This hopefully answers part of your question, but we were encouraged to consider, for example, whether some of these strategies could be amalgamated. An exte…”

“I do not think it would be appropriate to characterise it like that. All of these policy strategies—NPPF, BNG, local nature recovery strategies, and, when they come forward under the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, environmental delivery plans—together put in place a more strategic approach to considering environment…”

“No, I do not have any particular worries about the way the presumption is operating. It is operating in the way that we intend it to operate. As I say, we are encouraging local authorities to get local development plans in place to give themselves a measure of protection against speculative development of that kind. I …”