The Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee is holding an inquiry into the Government’s proposed reforms to the planning system in England and Wales. The Trust is very active in monitoring all the planning applications submitted each week in County Durham and responding where appropriate. Trustees have also taken a very active role in the recent development of both the County Durham Local Plan and the Durham City Neighbourhood Plan. We felt the Trust could contribute more to this enquiry than could be accommodated by responding to the online survey. We have sent the the full responses we made to the Government’s recent consultations on Changes to the current planning system and the White Paper Planning for the Future.