§ Mr. Steenasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what guidance is issued by his Department about whether organisations exempt from planning permission by virtue of the Caravan Act 1980 should consult informally with planning authorities before they issue exemption certificates; and how many exemption certificates were issued in each of the last five years.
§ Mr. WaldegraveExemption certificates are issued by the Secretary of State under the powers in paragraph 12 of the first schedule to the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960, for the purposes of paragraphs 4, 5 and 6 of that schedule. Only four organisations are permitted to use their certificates for all three purposes, and these have been advised to give local planning authorities prior notice of their proposals for approving certificated sites under paragraph 5. There is full consultation by these four organisations with local planning authorities before the setting up of managed sites under paragraph 4, but caravan rallying under paragraph 6 is not normally subject to such consultation.
According to our records the total numbers of certificated sites approved under paragraph 5 in each of the past five years are:
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Numbers 1982 4,602 1983 5,058 1984 5,488 1985 5,493 1986 5,965