HL Deb 07 February 2005 vol 669 cc91-4WA
Baroness Byford

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many comments to include land in the draft stage of the mapping consultation of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 were made by Miss Kate Ashbrook, either as a private individual, board member of the Countryside Agency or director of the Open Spaces Society, in area 5; how many parcels of land on which Miss Ashbrook commented were subsequently included in the provisional map; what was the total cost to the Countryside Agency in dealing with those parcels which subsequently did not appear in the provisional map; how many of those parcels were successfully appealed against; what was the total cost to the Planning Inspectorate and to the agency; in how many of these appeals costs were awarded against the agency; and what were these costs; and [HL1039]

How many comments to include land in the draft stage of the mapping consultation of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 were made by Miss Kate Ashbrook, either as a private individual, board member of the Countryside Agency or director of the Open Spaces Society, in area 6; how many parcels of land on which Miss Ashbrook commented were subsequently included in the provisional map; what was the total cost to the Countryside Agency in dealing with those parcels which subsequently did not appear in the provisional map; how many of those parcels were successfully appealed against; what was the total cost to the Planning Inspectorate and to the agency; in how many of these appeals costs were awarded against the agency; and what were these costs; and [HL1040]

How many comments to include land in the draft stage of the mapping consultation of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 were made by Miss Kate Ashbrook, either as a private individual, board member of the Countryside Agency or director of the Open Spaces Society, in area 7; how many parcels of land on which Miss Ashbrook commented were subsequently included in the provisional map; what was the total cost to the Countryside Agency in dealing with those parcels which subsequently did not appear in the provisional map; how many of those parcels were successfully appealed against; what was the total cost to the Planning Inspectorate and to the agency; in how many of these appeals costs were awarded against the agency; and what were these costs; and [HL1041]

How many comments to include land in the draft stage of the mapping consultation of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 were made by Miss Kate Ashbrook, either as a private individual, board member of the Countryside Agency or director of the Open Spaces Society, in area 8; how many parcels of land on which Miss Ashbrook commented were subsequently included in the provisional map; what was the total cost to the Countryside Agency in dealing with those parcels which subsequently did not appear in the provisional map; how many of those parcels were successfully appealed against; what was the total cost to the Planning Inspectorate and to the agency; in how many of these appeals costs were awarded against the agency; and what were these costs. [HL1042]

Lord Whitty

Ms Ashbrook submitted no comments at the draft map stage for area 5 or area 8. Ms Ashbrook submitted comments as a private individual on 119 parcels in area 6. She did not make any comments as board member of the Countryside Agency or director of the Open Spaces Society. Some 88 parcels on which she commented were added to the provisional map. The total cost to the Countryside Agency in dealing with those parcels which subsequently did not appear on the provisional map was £1,550.

Ms Ashbrook

submitted comments as a private individual on 216 parcels in area 7. She did not make any comments as board member of the Countryside Agency or director of the Open Spaces Society. Some 18 parcels on which she commented were added to the provisional map. The total cost to the Countryside Agency in dealing with those parcels which subsequently did not appear on the provisional map was £9,900.

Some 16 appeals in area 6 were made in respect of land which was added to the provisional map as a result of comments made by Ms Ashbrook alone or Ms Ashbrook and others. Eleven appeals have so far been determined and in three cases land will be removed from the map as a result of the appeal decision. The Countryside Agency estimates that the cost to it of these three appeals, which were all determined on the basis of written representations, was approximately £90 per appeal.

Fifteen appeals in area 7 were made in respect of land which was added to the provisional map as a result of comments made by Ms Ashbrook alone or Ms Ashbrook and others. We cannot say how many of these appeals will be successful or what the cost will be to the Countryside Agency as none has yet been determined.

Although the appeal work in areas 6 and 7 has not yet been completed, the Planning Inspectorate estimates, based on the costs of determining appeals in other areas, that the average cost to it of determining an appeal is £1,457.