New Clause 69 - Examination of applications for development consent

Part of Planning and Infrastructure Bill – in the House of Commons at 4:14 pm on 9 June 2025.

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Photo of Matthew Pennycook Matthew Pennycook Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government) 4:14, 9 June 2025

I slightly take issue with the hon. Member’s interpretation. We made targeted changes, but the strong protections that apply to agricultural land exist. He knows that, and I have spoken to him before about the fact that, in particular parts of the country, we see high numbers of applications for things like solar farms. But as I have said to him before, even under the most optimistic scenarios, less than 1% of agricultural land will be brought forward for solar farm applications, and those protections remain in place, so we are confident that that is robust.

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