§ 55. Mr. Allasonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he is satisfied that there are sufficient planners now in local government service; what increase will be required under local government reform; and what are the arrangements for training sufficient planners for the local government service.
§ Mr. Graham PageI have received no representations from local authority associations about any current insufficiency in planning staff, but with increased public participation, and as work on the preparation of structure plans and local plans intensifies, increased demands will be imposed on local authority planning departments. As regards local government reorganisation, I have invited the local authority associations to let me have their concerted views on the deployment of staff on reorganisation to ensure continuity and administrative economy. In recent years, there has been a substantial increase in the number of planning students in the universities.