The Government’s announcement today that fracking will not take place in National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty save ‘in exceptional circumstances and where it can be demonstrated they are in the public interest’ is a welcome and sensible move. That will be a relief to the residents of Wisborough Green and Kirdford in my constituency, two villages in beautiful countryside close to the South Downs National Park which have faced the prospect of drilling.

The Government has just published some welcome changes to planning guidance which address a number of the concerns which I and other MPs have been putting to ministers about how reforms were being implemented. The Telegraph reports some of the changes this morning, but here is a more detailed take.

Half an hour may be a short time for debate, but if you're at the receiving end of sustained parliamentary shelling it can feel a lot longer. On Tuesday the heavy artillery took the form of the MP for Mid Sussex, Nicholas Soames, who I joined in a Westminster Hall debate about the proposed Mayfield new town in our constituencies.