HC Deb 04 August 1976 vol 916 cc1696-8
4. Mr. Biggs-Davison

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will introduce legislation to make it an automatic offence to carry out development without the necessary planning permission.

The Minister for Planning and Local Government (Mr. John Silkin)

No Sir, but we have undertaken to seek a legislative opportunity to strengthen the powers of local authorities to enforce planning control.

Mr. Biggs-Davison

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware of the protests of councillors, amenity bodies, Young Conservatives and many of my constituents at the building without proper planning permission, and with impunity, of a large unsightly Heron-Beta filling station on the Epping New Road at Buckhurst Hill? I shall consider closely what the right hon. Gentleman said, but something should be done.

Mr. Silkin

I was not aware of the complete list that the hon. Gentleman just gave me, or of the particular case he mentioned. I should be glad to hear from him if he would care to write to me about it. On the general point, up to 1960 it was possible to take criminal action in the case of a contravention or a supposed contravention of development control. It proved quite unsatisfactory. Often people did not know that they were contravening the control and, anyway, the magistrates used to wait until an outstanding application had gone to appeal before deciding.

Mr. Stan Crowther

Is my right hon. Friend aware that planning authorities throughout the country regard the enforcement provision as a complete farce, and that this was made very clear in evidence to Mr. George Dobry, Q.C. when he conducted the inquiry? Will my right hon. Friend accept that a person who carries out an unauthorised development, such as tipping scrap metal on the edge of a residential area, can, if he manipulates the procedure with care, guarantee to get away with it for at least a year, while the residents suffer discomfort and distress and blame the planning authority?

Mr. Silkin

I have a lot of sympathy with that point, but it is a slightly different one. This is a question of enforcement control. Here I agree with my hon. Friend. My right hon. Friend the former Secretary of State in his statement, I think on 12th November 1975, said—and I endorse it—that we were taking every opportunity to find a legislative chance to implement Mr. Dobry's proposal that we should extend the stop notice powers.

Mr. Arthur Jones

Will the right hon. Gentleman consider a financial sanction where the conditions of a planning consent are ignored?

Mr. Silkin

I think that the Dobry proposal is probably about the best one. It would enable a local authority to put a stop notice on a much wider variety of cases. The hon. Gentleman knows that there are occasions when people carry out a contravening development without understanding or realising that they are doing so. We have to give them a chance to remedy that.

Mr. Michael Latham

Will the right hon. Gentleman try to bring forward legislation next Session to enable stop notices to be imposed where changes of use take place? These cannot be covered by enforcement control. Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that one Sunday market operator is making a farce of the planning controls?

Mr. Silkin

In my amiable talks with my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House I shall mention that the hon. Gentleman also backed my desire to have more legislative time.