HC Deb 28 March 1950 vol 473 c166
18. Sir Waldron Smithers

asked the Minister of Town and Country Planning what forms have to be filled up before permission is granted by the county surveyor to move a gate or change agricultural access to a field; and what is their cost.

Mr. Dalton

Such forms are settled by local planning authorities and I have no information about their cost, but I have a suspicion that a good deal of this sort of complication could be done away with, and I hope soon to take steps to this end.

Sir W. Smithers

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the facts in this Question are typical of the loss of money caused by the folly of centralised administration under a Socialist Government, and will the right hon. Gentleman try to do away with them as soon as possible and save the taxpayer all this form-filling as well as the cost of the bureaucrats involved?