Skip to main content

Planning: Retail Trade

Volume 469: debated on Monday 10 December 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans she has to review the needs test in planning guidance on out-of-town retail development. (171713)

As set out in the “Planning White Paper Planning for a Sustainable Future” in May 2007, we are reviewing the current approach in “Planning Policy Statement 6: Planning for Town Centres” (PPS6) to assessing the impact of proposals outside town centres. We will replace the need and impact tests with a new test which has a strong focus on our town centre first policy, and which promotes competition and improves consumer choice, avoiding the unintended effects of the current need test.

It remains our intention to take forward our White Paper commitment, and to consult on revisions to PPS6 in the new year.