§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how he plans to simplify the housing and planning procedures; and how much this will save.
§ Mr. Heseltine[pursuant to his reply, 13 December 1979]: Detailed examination of the procedures on housing and planning are still in hand.
On housing, I hope to make proposals shortly to modify housing project control. The amount of savings will depend on the proposals adopted.
My proposals for streamlining planning procedures have still to be finalised but will be incorporated in the Local Government, Planning and Land Bill and other various statutory instruments.
I am not able to quantify the total savings at this stage.