HC Deb 04 December 1974 vol 882 cc1535-6
6. Mr. Lane

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will take steps to speed up his Department's decision-making on local planning and traffic issues.

Mr. John Silkin

Yes, Sir. These matters are kept under continuous review.

Mr. Lane

I am grateful for that reply, as far as it goes. However, is the Minister aware that Cambridge, possibly because it is the finest urban constituency in the country, is one of the places which suffers from the too deliberate tempo in Whitehall, with consequent feelings of great frustration locally? Will the right hon. Gentleman take a personal interest in improving this situation, for the sake of the closer relationship between local government and central Government, which all in East Anglia want to develop?

Mr. Silkin

I have received no complaints, either from the city or the county council. If the hon. Gentleman has any details of which he thinks I should be made aware, I shall be grateful for them.

Mr. Moonman

Will my right hon. Friend consider the possibility of making a statement on the whole question of management and operational techniques used by local authorities and possibly stimulating them, which could ultimately have a very important effect on the co-ordination of decision-making at central Government level?

Mr. Silkin

I am bound to consider very carefully any suggestion that my hon. Friend may make, and certainly I shall bear that suggestion in mind.

Mr. Alison

Do the Minister's departmental records go back far enough to enable him to know whether the delay in making up his mind about the Tadcaster bypass is an all-time record or merely a record for this century?

Mr. Silkin

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on getting in a supplementary question about Tadcaster following a Question about Cambridge. I should need notice of his question, because I do not know what the records were when his party was in power.

Mr. Channon

On average, how long does it take for planning appeals to be disposed of in the Department at present?

Mr. Silkin

It depends whether they are written or whether they are the result of public inquiries. However, it is somewhere between eight months and a year. What we have to bear in mind is one simple thing: as far as a public inquiry is concerned, the delay—or some delay-is the price that we pay, and rightly pay, for public involvement.