Written questions

Rivers: Planning

Commons · Question 126800 · Tabled 13 Apr 2026 · Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government · Official record

Answered 20 Apr 2026

Question

Asked by Pippa Heylings

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of adding chalk streams to the list of irreplaceable habitats in the National Planning Policy Framework.

Answer

Answered by Matthew Pennycook, 20 Apr 2026

Between 16 December 2025 and 10 March 2026, the government consulted a new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). The consultation on the revised Framework, which can be found on gov.uk here, included explicit recognition of chalk streams as features ...