Building Licences (Hansard, 19 June 1967)

§ 9. Mr. Chichester-Clark
asked the Minister of Public Building and Works, whether he will now raise the exemption limit for building licensing under the Building Control Act, 1966 to £100,000, by order.

§ Mr. Prentice
No, Sir. If I were to do this the operation of the control would become less flexible and I would have to turn down more applications costing over £100,000.

§ Mr. Chichester-Clark
Does not the Minister think that in order to avoid the time lag between the moment when the expansion begins and the moment when the building owners are ready to invite tenders he should take this moderate step to remove the impost? Can he forecast what the capacity of the industry will be over the next 12 months?

§ Mr. Prentice
I should like notice of the latter part of the supplementary question. We expect an increase of about 5 per cent. in the total output of the industry next year compared with this year. This will include a big expansion in housing and other programmes. There is not likely to be scope for licensing extra projects in the category covered by the Building Control Act. It would be a mistake to assume that part of the increase in output will be carried out by extra licences in that category.

§ 27. Mr. John Smith
asked the Minister of Public Building and Works what guidance he gives to unsuccessful applicants for building licences in order to assist them in any future application.

§ Mr. Prentice
Officials of the Ministry are prepared to discuss the position with unsuccessful applicants, and give them as much relevant information as possible.

§ Mr. Smith
Will the Minister bear in mind that this does not always happen and that to start very large schemes within six months of the issue of a licence, as required by law, means a lot of work being done before the licence is issued? Is he aware that this work can be wasted? Will he ensure that plenty of consultation takes place beforehand to ensure that work is not wasted on the part of those preparing these schemes?

§ Mr. Prentice
The date of the licence could be adjusted where appropriate. This is the sort of problem that is often discussed between applicants for licences and officials of my Ministry. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will encourage any contacts he may have to go in for very full discussions of this sort. I assure him that we endeavour to help in solving this type of problem whenever we can.

§ 28. Mr. John Smith
asked the Minister of Public Building and Works whether he will view favourably applications to license building work which slightly exceeds £50,000 in cost, but to reduce which would damage this country's reputation and trade abroad.

§ Mr. Prentice
Applications for licences under the Building Control Act are considered in the light of all relevant circumstances, including contribution to exports.

§ Mr. Smith
Could the Minister bear in mind the fact that when firms put forward schemes of marginally over £50,000, as has happened in my constituency, and are obliged to cut down on the cost, it is necessarily those parts of the scheme which make a good impression on foreigners that get left out? Is he aware that this is damaging, particularly for a firm which is engaged in export?

§ Mr. Prentice
It is inevitable, under this system, that some applications will be turned down. A firm may prefer to curtail its plans and come below the £50,000 limit rather than wait for a later date. That is an inevitable ocurrence, wherever one draws the line.