HL Deb 06 February 1989 vol 503 cc1376-9

7.14 p.m.

The Earl of Arran rose to move, That the draft regulations laid before the House on 21st December 1988 be approved. [5th Report from the Joint Committee].

The noble Earl said: My Lords, these regulations, which have already been considered in another place, are laid under powers in Section 87 of the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980. They amend and consolidate the 1983 planning fees regulations. Those 1983 regulations were amended, with the approval of this House and another place, both in 1985 and in 1987. It is now time to consolidate the 1985 and 1987 amendments of the 1983 regulations, and these 1989 regulations are intended to do that.

The main change introduced in these 1989 regulations is to provide for a general increase in the level of fees for planning applications. We have also taken the opportunity to make some very minor changes to the fees scheme itself in the light of our further experience of its operation and to make some clarifications of the text of the regulations.

Since 1981, when they were first introduced, fees for planning applications have been intended to represent a contribution by the applicant to the costs which the local planning authority will incur in handling his application and reaching a decision. Applicants are charged according to the nature of the development proposed and its size where that is relevant.

In the course of the debates on the 1985 and 1987 amending regulations, the Government's stated objective was that fees for planning applications should move to a level where they recover about 50 per cent. of local authorities' development control costs but that rather than make a substantial once for all increase we intended to proceed towards that objective by stages.

The 1987 amending regulations provided for increases of 14 per cent. from 25th February 1987 and then of 10 per cent. from 1st July 1987, some four months later. Allowing for these increases, we estimate that in each of the financial years 1987–88 and 1988–89 fees will have recovered around 44 per cent. of local authorities' costs of handling planning applications.

The regulations now before the House provide for an across-the-board increase in fees of 15 per cent. If approved by this House the new fees scale will come into operation early in March. The new fees' effect in the financial year 1988–89 will be limited, but they should increase the recovery rate for 1989–90 to over 47 per cent. If Parliament were to approve a further 15 per cent. increase for 1990–91, that should take the recovery rate up to 49 per cent., close to the 50 per cent. cost recovery objective.

Under the present proposals the basic units of fees will rise from £66 to £76 and from £33 to £38. An application to build dwelling houses, for example, will be charged at £76 per dwelling house in the case of a full application or an application for the approval of details. In the case of an outline application it will be charged £76 per 0.1 hectare of site area.

The Government believe that those who make use of the development control system by submitting applications for planning permission should continue to make a contribution towards its cost. That is a part of the Government's wider philosophy that those who use a service provided by the public sector should pay towards its cost.

We believe there can be no doubt that, even after taking into account the increase in fees proposed in the regulations before the House, fees for planning applications will in general continue to be modest—in some instances, they will be virtually negligible—in relation to the overall cost of the development which is the subject of the application. I commend the 1989 regulations to the House. I beg to move.

Moved, That the draft regulations laid before the House on 21st December 1988 be approved, [5th Report from the Joint Committee]—(The Earl of Arran.)

Lord Dean of Beswick

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for introducing these regulations. His speech in explanation of what the regulations intend was long and compared with what was said in another place almost a marathon. However, the Minister went to a great deal of trouble to explain what the regulations will do.

I have no intention or wish to speak against the order, but I wish to make some brief comments. I believe that all your Lordships know that from the time when planning is applied for and the first planning brief has been submitted to the actual commencement of the contract can be a very expensive period if there are any delays. Figures show that over the past few years there has been a tendency for the planning procedures to be a little less productive or less speedy than the people making the applications are entitled to expect. They are now being charged for these applications, and that is not arguable; I believe that to be correct. In this order they are being asked to pay more. One accepts that that is probably inevitable and that the charges will increase.

I have some further figures for the second quarter of 1988. It is interesting that the percentage of planning decisions taken within the statutory eight weeks' period was 56 per cent. in the second quarter of 1988 compared with 61 per cent. for the same period in 1987. It was 65 per cent. for the same period in 1986. I suggest that these statistics confirm the complaints of Members that the service received from planning authorities has slowed up. There is a difference between 56 per cent. and 65 per cent.; and it can be very expensive to the people making planning applications. The point I am trying to make is that whatever organisation one speaks about whether it is the developers or the builders in the private sector, the BEC in the local authority public works department or a member of the Federation of Master Builders, it costs them money to be kept waiting and twiddling their thumbs while planning applications are dealt with. In supporting the increased charges I hope that it will accord with an increase in activity and that the acceptance and passing of planning applications can be speeded up. There is no question but that they should be.

I have one brief point to put to the Minister, and it may be that he will be unable to answer it today. In those circumstances perhaps he can write to me about it. Are urban development corporations concerned at all with this order that is going through? I do not ask the noble Earl to answer that question now. It may be that they are completely outside the effects of this particular order, but if they are perhaps the noble Earl can send me a note explaining the position.

I have made the comments that I believe necessary. In the general terms of the increase we support the order but we should like to see the necessary speed-up in the acceptance of planning applications.

The Earl of Arran

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Dean of Beswick, for his broad acceptance of the order that lies before your Lordships' House tonight. I take the point that time can be expensive, particularly when one has very expensive building projects in mind. The noble Lord brought up the point that there is this so-called stop-start situation of putting up a freeze every couple of years, and asked whether these matters could be dealt with more quickly. We have considerable sympathy with the noble Lord's point. It is a question of being hamstrung by the legislation. The 1980 Act requires that the planning application fees must be effected by resolution of each House of Parliament. The Government believe that it should be possible to achieve alteration to the fees by a less protracted route than that of taking up the time of your Lordships' House and of another place every year or two.

I can assure the noble Lord that the need for this procedure and also the comparative complexity of the fees scale are matters that we shall consider sympathetically as soon as there is a legislative opportunity. If I heard the noble Lord, Lord Dean of Beswick, correctly, the other point was whether or not building corporations are concerned at this order going through.

Lord Dean of Beswick

My Lords, I was referring to urban development corporations.

The Earl of Arran

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord. To the best of my knowledge that is not the case. I can assure the noble Lord, Lord Dean, that should I not be correct in this instance I will, as he suggests, write to him. As to the fees scheme itself we are always concerned to identify any further justifiable improvements that might be made to it. We certainly would prefer to avoid making it more complex. As I have said, we have in mind looking at ways of simplifying it. I hope that sensible ideas to improve the fees scheme will continue to come to us from all of those with an interest in the planning system.

Perhaps I may say a word of comfort to the noble Lord, Lord Dean of Beswick, as regards urban development corporations. I understand that in England they are development control authorities and will levy the charges as any other local planning authority. No local authority, including UDCs, has made comments against charges.

On Question, Motion agreed to.