§ 19. Mr. Nichollsasked the Secretary of the State for the Environment if he will consider adding to the list under class 1 of the schedule to the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1972 as No. (vi) a Pharmacy.
§ Mr. MacfarlaneNo, Sir. Pharmacies are in planning terms no different from other kinds of shops in class I. In any case, the amendment my hon. Friend suggests would not mean that planning permission was needed to use a shop as a pharmacy, unless a material change of use were involved; a change of use of this kind would be unlikely to be material.
§ Mr. NichollsWill my hon. Friend accept that one of the consequences of the present position is that if a hypermarket in say, Newton Abbot, in my constituency of Teignbridge were to be given planning permission for general shop use it would automatically have permission to use a pharmacy? The effect of that would be that, far from encouraging healthy competition, the rural pharmacies might be forced to close and many people who would benefit from the sort of personal service that a rural pharmacy can give would then be deprived of that service entirely, which would be not only to their detriment but to the detriment of the community as a whole?
§ Mr. MacfarlaneI fully understand the concern and the problem facing my hon. Friend in his constituency. I am totally sympathetic to that. However, I have indicated that planning controls over individual kinds of shops or types of goods sold would not be desirable. The availability of pharmacy services is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Services, and I am more than happy to act as a catalyst for that, if my hon. Friend so desires.