§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what was the number of public inquiries which were held in each year since 1985; [20998]
(2) what was the average length of time it takes to obtain dates for public inquiries into planning refusals; [20999]
(3) if he will list by local authority the number of (a) planning application refusals, (b) appeals, (c) public inquiries, (d) the estimated time to obtain a date and (e) the estimated costs for (i) 1992, (ii) 1993 and (iii) 1994. [21000]
§ Sir Paul BeresfordI have delegated responsibility for the provision of information on planning appeals to the Planning Inspectorate agency. I have therefore asked Mr. Chris Shepley, the agency's chief executive, to reply.
Letter from Chris Shepley to Mr. Keith Vaz, dated 25 April 1995:
The Secretary of State has asked me to provide replies to your Parliamentary Questions about:
- the number of public inquiries held each year since 1985 (PQ/20998)
- the average length of time it takes to obtain dates for public inquiries into planning refusals (PQ 20999);
- for each local authority, the number of (a) planning application refusals, (b) appeals, (c) public inquiries, (d) the estimated time to obtain a date and (e) the estimated costs for (i) 1992, (ii) 1993 and (iii) 1994 (PQ 21000).
As these are all matters that have been delegated to the Executive Agency.20998
The number of appeals against a refusal of planning permission determined following a public inquiry in each financial year since 1985/86 is shown in the table below. The information is taken from the Chief Planning Inspector's Annual Report.
Year Appeals determined 1985–86 1,663 1986–87 2,098 1987–88 1,960 1988–89 2,204 1989–90 2,347 1990–91 1,960 1991–92 1,808 1992–93 1,505 1993–94 1,176 1994–95 1,108 (20999)
Our most recent check showed that over 95% of inquiry dates for planning appeals were finalised within the one month negotiation period recommended by the inquiries procedure rules.(21000)
The information you seek in respect of each planning authority on (a) Planning Application Refusals, (b) appeals and (c) inquiries is not immediately available and will take a few days to compile and check. I will write to you again when the work is complete.I cannot, however, provide the information you seek in parts (d) or (e) of your question. The Agency does not keep records at a level of detail that would enable us to estimate for each planning authority either the time taken to obtain inquiry dates or the costs of inquiries.