§ 2.35 p.m.
§ LORD BOSSOMMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the second Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will state how many of the county councils, local authorities, cities and major towns in England have a properly trained and qualified Town Planning Officer to look after developments within their area, and do not leave them to the local city engineer or some other official who has not had an intensive specialised town planning training.]
THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT (EARL JELLICOE)My Lords, county councils and county borough councils are the local planning authorities. Of these, all the forty-nine counties and seventy-seven of the seventy-nine county boroughs in England have qualified town planning officers on their staff. I should add that many city engineers in the county boroughs are themselves qualified town planners.
§ LORD BOSSOMMy Lords, while thanking my noble friend for that 777 Answer, could it not be made compulsory for every body which is a planning authority to have a qualified assistant? And could there not be some reasonable appeal arrangement where the local individuals override their sound professional advice, so that such a situation may be remedied much more easily than it is at the present time?
EARL JELLICOEMy Lords, I should have hoped that the figures I have given to my noble friend would persuade him that the voluntary method is really working quite effectively, because, of the local authorities with direct town and country planning functions, only two are at present without qualified planning officers. That would seem to me, if I might say so, to be a pretty fair justification of the voluntary method.
§ LORD TAYLORMy Lords, is it not a fact that many of the major authorities delegate their powers to lesser authorities, and is it not there that trouble may arise through lack of training?
EARL JELLICOEMy Lords, I would agree, of course, that many local authorities have delegated planning functions, and there the proportion of qualified town planning experts is much smaller than in the case of the authorities with primary planning functions.
§ LORD TAYLORMy Lords, will the noble Earl do what he can to stimulate those lesser authorities to employ properly qualified people?
§ LORD BOSSOMMy Lords, could my noble friend look into this situation and require every authority to have properly qualified people, including those authorities with delegated functions; and if they all had them, would there be any reason for our getting such unsatisfactory town planning as we now have in so many instances?
EARL JELLICOEMy Lords, I should, of course, be very glad to give my noble friend the assurance that I will look into the position.
§ LORD BOSSOMI thank the noble Earl very much.