§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if local authorities are required to produce photographs to his Department in advance of enveloping schemes.
§ Sir George YoungNo. However paragraph 3 of DOE circular 26/84 says that photographs showing the main house types and the general condition of properties in proposed enveloping schemes are helpful and may be included in support of submissions.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of the effects on the economies of scale of enveloping arising from his circular 26/84, "The Improvement of Older Housing: Enveloping".
§ Sir George YoungThe economies of scale achieved by enveloping schemes put forward by local authorities and approved under circular 26/84 will depend on their size and nature.
Although the circular allows some flexibility in the size of schemes, it discourages those that are too small, and I would expect economies of scale to be greater than previously.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment by what means he anticipates local authorities will have regard to the social and financial circumstances of owners of property in respect of enveloping schemes as set out in paragraph 12 of circular 26/84, "The Improvement of Older Housing: Enveloping".
§ Sir George YoungAll enveloping schemes fall within housing action areas. In considering enveloping schemes, local authorities should draw on the assessment of social64W conditions that they are obliged to have made before declaring the HAA, and on the results of subsequent monitoring.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is meant by the term area as a whole in paragraph 7 of circular 26/84, "The Improvement of Older Housing: Enveloping".
§ Sir George YoungParagraph 7 reminds authorities that the impact of enveloping schemes will have an effect on property values greater than that brought by isolated improvements to individual dwellings. The area affected will depend on the circumstances but will normally extend beyond the enveloping scheme to the surrounding housing action area.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his estimate of the extra manpower requirements of his regional offices in monitoring enveloping schemes under circular 26/84, "The Improvement of Older Housing: Enveloping".
§ Sir George YoungNone.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his evidence that the operation of circular 26/84, "The Improvement of Older Housing: Enveloping", will increase the speed of decision making on enveloping schemes.
§ Sir George YoungThe circular, in giving clearer guidelines to local authorities, will eliminate the need for protracted discussion and appraisal which has hitherto been necessary following submission of projects. Where cases fall within the prescribed criteria, decisions will be given within 30 days of acknowledgement of receipt of the completed submission within the Department, unless the authority hears to the contrary.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how the new requirements for enveloping set out in circular 26/84, "The Improvement of Older Housing: Enveloping", are to be met without increasing manpower while maintaining the same rate of properties being enveloped.
§ Sir George YoungThough there may be additional work involved in providing the project information required at the outset this should be readily available to local authorities. I would expect any extra effort normally to lead to offsetting savings by removing the need for local authorities to respond to requests for further information once a project is submitted for approval.