§ Mr. Gryllsasked the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to issue his circular on development control.
§ Mr. KingMy right hon. Friend the Secretary of Stale for Wales and I have reviewed the draft of the circular in the light of comments from the local authority associations and others. My Department and the Welsh Office issued the circular, Development Control—Policy and Practice, DOE No. 22/80 (WO No. 40/80), on Friday 28 November. I have placed copies in the Vote Office and in the Library of both Houses.
The circular reaffirms the Government's commitment to the objectives and principles of planning. It sets out my views, and those of the Secretary of State for Wales, on 66W the importance of efficiency, urgency and relevance in the handling of planning applications. It stresses the importance of a positive attitude to development and of a common sense and sympathetic approach to the exercise of development control.
The circular draws attention to the need to foster small businesses, to the undesirability of subjecting such developments to indiscriminate "zoning" controls, and to the importance of using enforcement and discontinuance procedures only in the last resort. It sets out our policy that every possible effort should be made to find suitable alternative uses for buildings of architectural or historic interest where this is necessary to preserve them. It states our view on the limits of the role of planning in controlling aesthetic matters, and it sets out extensive policy guidelines on the control of residential development.
Sixty-two existing circulars are cancelled, the contents of which are either replaced or are now unnecessary.