HC Deb 20 July 1988 vol 137 cc1094-5
13. Mr. Riddick

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many simplified planning zones have been established in England and Wales since their introduction; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Trippier

The provisions of the Housing and Planning Act 1986, enabling local planning authorities to prepare and adopt simplified planning zones, came into effect in November 1987. So far, six authorities in England and Wales are known to be preparing schemes and two of those are near to adoption.

Mr. Riddick

Will my hon. Friend confirm that simplified planning zones can help to cut out unnecessary red tape and bureaucracy and make a significant contribution to the regeneration of rundown urban areas? Will he tell me whether he has received an application from my council, Kirklees, and, if not, whether he would welcome such an application?

Mr. Trippier

My hon. Friend is well known as a strong and powerful advocate for this form of deregulation in that area of planning, and I compliment him on his tenacity.

I have not received an application from Kirklees council. I should certainly welcome it. If there were the slightest thought in the council's mind that it should not do so, because a Conservative Government introduced the scheme in the first place, I should tell it that the vast majority of applications that I have received so far have been from Labour-controlled authorities.

Mr. Campbell-Savours

Has not simplified planning in enterprise zones been a disaster in my constituency of Workington? Will the Minister comment on the fact that the only place in Britain where one can build houses freely without planning permission is in the Workington enterprise zone? Is that not disgraceful? Why have I repeatedly had to come back to the Government, and why have they repeatedly not taken any action?

Mr. Trippier

What is disgraceful is that the hon. Gentleman should castigate the enterprise zone in his constituency, when I know for a fact that it has been an unmitigated success. Having officially visited his constituency three times in the past 18 months, I can confirm that that enterprise zone has physically transformed the landscape and had a significant impact on reducing the level of unemployment.

Mr. Fallon

Is it not high time that England became a simplified planning zone, and is it not in the interests of objectors as well as applicants that we have a simplified and faster planning system in this country?

Mr. Trippier

My hon. Friend's concerns could easily be met if I receive applications from every local authority in the land for simplified planning zone status.

Mr. Soley

Is the Minister thinking of making Horsham a simplified planning zone? Is he aware that Horsham seems to have taken that on itself by giving dispensation to Conservative councillors there to vote so that an empty council house is now used as offices for the Horsham Conservative Association? What is the Minister going to do about that? Does he agree that that is not only corruption but the theft of public property for the private gain of the Tory party? Will the Minister take this opportunity to condemn that action and ensure that the council is prevented from pursuing it?

Mr. Trippier

I am not aware of the specific instance that the hon. Gentleman has mentioned. If he thinks that that is in any way connected with the substantive question on the Order Paper, he is stretching credulity to breaking point.