§ 3. Mr. Knoxasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he is satisfied with the speed with which planning applications are being dealt with.
§ Mr. HeseltineIn general, there has been a welcome speeding up of performance, but there is still scope for improvement.
§ Mr. KnoxIs my right hon. Friend aware that in the third quarter of last year—the most recent period for which figures are available—40 per cent. of the applications to the Peak park joint planning board took over 13 weeks to determine compared with 16 per cent. in the rest of the country? Does my right hon. Friend regard that as satisfactory, and, if not, can he do anything about it?
§ Mr. HeseltineI am concerned that in some areas the improved performance is not being achieved. The first step that I wanted to take was to publish the figures so that such questions could be publicly ventilated. I hope that individual authorities will react to their own performance without the need for central Government to become involved in trying to do the job that they are properly charged with doing. In the last resort, it would be appropriate for me to ask questions.
§ Mr. ChapmanI welcome the speed-up in the determination of planning applications, but is it uniform among minor or modest applications and more significant submissions? Is the welcome expeditious progress reflected in decisions on planning appeals in my right hon. Friend's Department?
§ Mr. HeseltineMy hon. Friend has a deep knowledge of the subject. I assure him that the improvement achieved by my appeals inspectorate is commendable. I pay public tribute to the work of Mr. Midwinter and his inspectors for the way in which they have responded to the demands that we have made of them. There has been an improvement by many authorities in dealing with some of the larger applications. That proves that if the will is there, one can move the planning mechanisms faster than in the past. I hope that authorities which have not achieved that progress will make better efforts.