HC Deb 19 February 1992 vol 204 cc188-9W
Sir John Farr

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will issue guidance to local planning authorities to allow for the granting of a greater proportion than hitherto of applications making use of redundant farm buildings.

Mr. Yeo

Guidance on the re-use of farm and other rural buildings is in planning policy guidance note 7, "The Countryside and the Rural Economy", published in January 1992. This states that proposals should not be rejected unless there are specific and convincing planning reasons that cannot be overcome by attaching reasonable conditions to the planning permission. Unlike the first edition of PPG7, it says that it should not normally be necessary to consider whether the building is no longer needed for its present purposes.