Party’s MP, who is facing misconduct claims, says ‘you have to stand up to bullies’ after he questioned Farage
Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, has rejected calls from the family of Sir David Amess for a public inquiry into his death in a letter described as “unacceptable” and “insulting” by the murdered MP’s widow and daughter.
Three organisations have hit back at the government after being accused by Angela Rayner’s department of holding up planning applications.
While Theatres Trust welcomes Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner’s announcement of a review into the planning statutory consultee system, of which Theatres Trust is a committed and active part, we do not recognise the characterisation of Theatres Trust, made by the deputy prime minister and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, as being an impediment to growth.
As part of The Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015, Theatres Trust is a statutory consultee in England in relation to ‘development involving any land on which there is a theatre’. This is a responsibility we take seriously and deliver diligently alongside our expert advice services to local authorities, developers and operators. In 2023/24, we responded to 238 planning and pre-planning applications that fell within our remit; 100% of these were dealt with in the allotted 21 days.
The Gardens Trust is dismayed to learn that the government intends to consider removing it as a statutory consultee within the English planning system.
We don’t recognise ourselves in the government’s characterisation of statutory consultees. We only rarely miss the 21 day response deadline (remarkable given that we work closely with local volunteers in forming our responses), and last year objected to less than 10% of our consultations, with the remainder of our responses being simply supportive advice.
The purpose of our statutory planning remit is to protect playing fields and community spaces for sport and physical activity.
Britain’s childhood obesity crisis is rising and low physical activity levels cost our economy £7.4bn a year, making it vital we protect the places that local communities can be active.
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