HC Deb 31 July 1972 vol 842 cc29-30W
Miss Quennell

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what has been the average delay for England and Wales between the hearing of a planning appeal by one of the inspectors, and his own final decision over the past 10 years; and what is the same figure in respect of hearings proceeding from the Peters-field constituency.

Mr. Graham Page

Information in the form requested is not available. The average time between inquiry and decision in the case of appeals decided by the Secretary of State in 1969, 1970 and 1971 was 14 weeks, 16 weeks and 18 weeks, comparable figures for appeals within the Petersfield constituency being 14 weeks, 18 weeks and 16 weeks.

For appeals decided by Inspectors the corresponding times were four, six and eight weeks and five, five and seven weeks.

Miss Quennell

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many appeals against decisions of planning authorities he has received each year for the past 10 years, indicating whether these were from individual applicants or firms, and his decision.

Mr. Graham Page

The numbers of appeals under Section 36 of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1971, are as follows:

Decision*
Year Received Withdrawn
Allowed Dismissed
1962 11,731 3,944 2,241 5,988
1963 11,646 3,553 2,212 5,947
1964 13,629 4,224 1,892 6,455
1965 13,362 4,132 1,649 6,539
1966 11,088 4,252 1,872 6,707
1967 10,090 2,673 1,879 6,219
1968 9,593 2,765 1,674 4,984
1969 8,212 2,788 1,787 4,405
1970 8,362 2,549 1,487 3,967
1971 9,818 2,788 1,244 4,272
1972 (to 30th June) 6,210 1,554 723 2,419
* Including from 1969 appeals transferred to Inspectors.

I regret that the rest of the information is not available.