Speeches by Blake.

“I don’t know if anyone else wants to come in on that point.”

“Do you think we should see nature and the environment as part of the infrastructure in a much more formal way?”

“Last November, witnesses told us about the importance of infrastructure for making sure that the right houses are built in the right places. Are there any specific approaches to providing infrastructure that can minimise the environmental consequences of housebuilding?”

“I want to briefly follow up on the social and environmental objectives of the planning system. We have touched on a couple of aspects with you, Ms Pullinger. Do you feel that warm homes and the impact on social, financial, and health outcomes should be more heavily weighed as that is a spin-off benefit of being carbon …”

“All right. Thank you.”

“Switching back to infrastructure, can you point to an example—say in planning a neighbourhood, so at neighbourhood level rather than individual property level—an example of something actively delivering better outcomes for nature, the environment and carbon?”

“To you all, if that is okay: are there any lessons we can learn from anywhere else, internationally, about how we can do this more effectively to make sure that we are including this in our infrastructure planning and making it cost effective at the same time? Finally, is there anything that you think we should include…”

“I am coming back to you, Mr Lockhart. If we had a more formal way to talk about nature and the environment as infrastructure, what specific role do you feel new housing developments could have?”

“I don’t know if anyone else wants to come in on that point.”

“Do you think we should see nature and the environment as part of the infrastructure in a much more formal way?”

“Last November, witnesses told us about the importance of infrastructure for making sure that the right houses are built in the right places. Are there any specific approaches to providing infrastructure that can minimise the environmental consequences of housebuilding?”

“I want to briefly follow up on the social and environmental objectives of the planning system. We have touched on a couple of aspects with you, Ms Pullinger. Do you feel that warm homes and the impact on social, financial, and health outcomes should be more heavily weighed as that is a spin-off benefit of being carbon …”

“All right. Thank you.”

“Switching back to infrastructure, can you point to an example—say in planning a neighbourhood, so at neighbourhood level rather than individual property level—an example of something actively delivering better outcomes for nature, the environment and carbon?”

“My constituents John and Susan recently got in touch with me about their son Tom. Tom is an autistic man who lives in an assisted living facility and receives one-to-one support seven days a week. John and Susan told me that he will never be able to work. Tom’s benefit is being moved from employment and support allowan…”

“It is encouraging to hear that the Government are considering bringing in aviation shipping emissions into Carbon Budget 6. If that was not to happen, what would the consequences be if aviation and shipping were to remain outside the Sixth Carbon Budget envelope?”

“Moving back to transport to focus on aviation, which is a big area for you, to what extent is the UK relying on the net reduction in international aviation emissions to deliver its targets at the moment?”

“Under the last spending review, the Treasury was quite keen to see joint applications to it. Do you think that that would be of benefit in trying to meet targets across government?”

“My next question is again about the funding settlements that were announced by the Chancellor for 2025-26 to enable individual Departments responsible for tackling climate change to deliver and sustain emission reductions at the pace required. Do you think that they are adequate and are going in the right direction?”

“Just a quick one on peatlands. Do you think there is a need for a look again at the ban on burning that was brought in under the last Government to protect peatlands from further degradation, because it only covers areas of deep peat at the moment?”