The former Chairman of the Lords Built Environment Select Committee has expressed her disappointment at the long delay in publishing a Government response to the Committee findings.
The Government published its response to ‘Building Better Places’, the report of the former House of Lords Select Committee on National Policy for the Built Environment on Tuesday 8 November. The Committee published its report in February of this year. The Government’s response should have been published in April.
Commenting on the response, former Committee Chairman Baroness O’Cathain said:
“I am glad that we have now received a response to our report, and it is good to see that the Government are looking to improve things in some areas, including promoting good practice and monitoring health outcomes in the planning process.
“The unacceptable delay in publishing a response, however, means that much of the debate on these matters has moved on, particularly since the passage of the Housing and Planning Act earlier this year.
“The report contained a number of important recommendations concerning the quality of our built environment and the places in which we live, and was welcomed by many of the professional bodies working in the sector.
“The quality of our built environment affects each and every one of us in this country, and it is disappointing that the Government took so long to respond to these important findings.”
Now that the Government has responded, the Committee report will be debated in the House of Lords in due course. A date for that debate will be published on the Committee’s webpage once confirmed.