HC Deb 10 May 1978 vol 949 cc1166-7
7. Mr. Newton

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he is satisfied with arrangements for ensuring adequate hospital and other public services in connection with the granting of planning consent for major housing developments.

Mr. Guy Barnett

Yes, but the adequacy of hospital facilities is not normally significant in deciding individual planning applications. Local planning authorities are advised by DOE circular 102/72 to have regard to the adequacy of services and community facilities when considering major proposals for housing development.

Mr. Newton

Does the Minister accept that to the people of Essex and, I should think, Kent that answer will appear to be extremely complacent and that there are no signs that these planning requirements have been tied together? Is he aware that in my constituency and others nearby there has been a huge increase in population with no additional hospital provision? Does he recognise that this has occurred, and will he take steps to get something done about it?

Mr. Barnett

If the hon. Gentleman is referring to expansion at Braintree and Witham, this was planned expansion, which the area health authority could be expected to take into account in its plans. I understand that a major hospital development is planned at Broomfield, north of Chelmsford.

Mr. Loyden

Is my hon. Friend aware that when new hospitals are being built in city centres away from the communities that have been moving to the outskirts, services for those communities are becoming over-stretched? Does he agree that there is a need to establish community centres and health centres in those areas, so that confidence can be restored to people living a long way from health centres that, as in Liverpool, have been built in city centres?

Mr. Barnett

I accept a good deal of what my hon. Friend says, but my responsibility relates to the desirability of hospital facilities being taken into account in planning applications. The question of the location of hospitals is one for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Services.