§ Mr. Evelyn Kingasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what estimate he has of the number of houses or flats in the United Kingdom now standing empty because of planning delays and of the number of families which are currently deprived of a home for this reason.
§ Mr. ChannonNo information is available on which to base such an estimate.
§ Mr. Evelyn Kingasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what estimate he has of the number of houses in London which have now been kept empty for a period of 12 months or more because of delays in the hearing of planning appeals; and what steps, in the light of the number of homeless in London, he proposes to take to remedy this state of affairs.
§ Mr. ChannonThe information is not available on which such an estimate could be based.
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§ Mr. Evelyn Kingasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether, in view of the sums now being added to the cost of houses and flats through planning delays extending a year or more, he will, in order to cut housing costs, pay compensation to such developers as win their appeal.
§ Mr. Graham PageNo. The right way to tackle this problem is at source, by reducing planning delays. This was the objective of the circular of 9th November on "Streamlining Planning Procedures" (DOE Circular 142/73) and will be one of the main concerns of the Dobry review.
§ Mr. Evelyn Kingasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether, in the light of the fact that interest rates on purchased empty buildings can be 18 per cent. and appeals by developers in respect of development of such buildings take an average of 66 weeks to hear, he will estimate the average additional cost of London houses and flats caused by such delays where there is an appeal and where there is no appeal.
§ Mr. ChannonThe information is not available on which such an estimate could be based.
§ Mr. Evelyn Kingasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if, in the light of the memorandum written by the RIBA and the Royal Town Planning Institute about the situation in planning, he will appoint to the Dobry Committee architects, surveyors and planners with experience of London planning delays.
§ Mr. RipponI gave the names of the members appointed to the advisory group to assist Mr. George Dobry, QC, in his review of the development control system on 8th November in answer to a Question by my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Handsworth (Mr. Sydney Chapman).—[Vol. 863, c.244.]
The group was not intended to be representative and members were appointed on the basis of the personal contribution they could make to the review. Nevertheless, it will be clearly seen that the group contains a wealth of practical experience of planning both in London and throughout the country.
§ Mr. Evelyn Kingasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the 44W number of planning decisions given by local authorities in the United Kingdom in 1965, 1970, 1972 and 1973.
§ Mr. Graham PageAn abstract of planning decisions for England and Wales is issued annually by Her Majesty's Stationery Office. The figures are 1965, 443,387; 1970, 414,301; 1972, 614,862. Information for 1973 is not yet available.
Similar statistics are included by the Scottish Development Department and the Ministry of Development, Northern Ireland in their respective annual reports.
§ Mr. Evelyn Kingasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will seek powers, in the light of the growth in the number of planning decisions, to reduce both the volume of matters which planning authorities are required to investigate and the number of circumstances in which such authorities are empowered to intervene.
§ Mr. Graham PageLocal planning authorities must take account of any matters which are relevant to their consideration of planning applications. I am, of course, drawing Mr. Dobry's attention to my hon. Friend's question.
§ Mr. Evelyn Kingasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has received the memorandum from the RIBA and the Royal Town Planning Institute expressing concern about the planning situation in Great Britain; and what reply he has made.
§ Mr. Graham PageA joint memorandum about development control procedures was received and discussed fully with representatives of both the RIBA and the RTPI in the consultations leading up to the issue of Circular No. 142/73 "Streamlining the Planning Machine" on 9th November.