§ Lord Sandfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is their estimate of the increase in staff, and consequential increase in public expenditure, which would arise if control of the approximately 12,000 listed ecclesiastical buildings of the Church of England were to be transferred to the local planning authorities and to the Department of the Environment, as envisaged in that department's consultation paper of 30th January 1984.
§ Lord SkelmersdaleThe possibility of subjecting listed ecclesiastical buildings to normal listed building control procedures is only one of several options discussed in the Department of the Environment's recent consultation paper. It is not possible to estimate precisely the increase in staff or public expenditure that might result, not least because it would depend primarily on the number of church authorities who wanted to make changes for which listed building consent was necessary. However, any such increase, in the event of the option of subjecting listed ecclesiastical buildings to normal listed building control procedures being chosen, would be small.