53. Mr. S. James A. Hillasked the Secretary of State for the Environment which planning authorities have so far published their structure plans for public comment.
§ Mr. Sydney Chapmanasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how many planning authorities have not yet been requested by him to prepare structure plans; which they are; and when the requests will be made;
(2) by what date he expects structure plans to be in operation over the country as a whole.
§ Mr. Graham PageThe following 10 local planning authorities in England have published draft structure plans for formal public participation:
Further authorities will reach this stage over the next few months. Others have given publicity at an earlier stage for example, to survey reports and to the alternatives they are considering, and have sought public comment on these.
- Coventry CBC
- Solihull CBC
- Warwickshire CC
- Worcestershire
- Hampshire CC
- Portsmouth CBC
- Southampton CBC
- Leicester CBC
- Leicestershire CC
It is the Department's practice to have discussions with local planning authorities before formally inviting them to prepare structure plans. I am glad to say that approaches have now been made to all authorities in England. The vast majority have agreed to prepare plans and in only a very few cases has there not yet been a formal request to prepare a structure plan for at least part of the authority's area.
There has also, since the passing of the Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Act 1972, been considerable
160Wmonth. The figures for January to November 1971 and 1972 are as follows:
progress with the making of commencement orders. This formal stage is normally reached after discussions with the authorities about their working arrangements and the area of the plan. Commencement orders have now been made for the following areas:
County Boroughs
- Teesside
- Carlisle
- Leicester
- Birmingham
- Burton upon Trent
- Coventry
- Dudley
- Solihull
- Stoke-on-Trent
- Walsall
- Warley
- West Bromwich
- Wolverhampton
- Worcester
- Portsmouth
- Southampton
- Brighton
- Norwich
- Great Yarmouth
- Ipswich
- Blackburn
- Bolton
- Burnley
- Bury
- Manchester
- Oldham
- Rochdale
- Salford
- Stockport
- Wigan
Counties
- Yorkshire, North Riding (part)
- Durham (part)
- Cumberland (part)
- Leicestershire
- Herefordshire
- Salop
- Warwickshire
- Worcestershire
- Staffordshire (part)
- Hampshire (part)
- Buckinghamshire
- East Sussex (part)
- West Sussex (part)
- Norfolk
- East Suffolk
- Lancashire (part)
- Cheshire (part)
- Yorkshire, West Riding (part)
Commencement orders are under discussion for the following areas and are expected to be made soon.
161WCounty Boroughs
- Birkenhead
- Bootle
- Liverpool
- St. Helens
- Southport
- Wallasey
- Derby
- Nottingham
- Northampton
- Southend-on-Sea
- Oxford
- Doncaster
Counties
- Lancashire (part)
- Cheshire (part)
- Peak District National Park
- Derbyshire (part)
- Nottinghamshire (part)
- Northamptonshire
- Essex
- Oxfordshire
- Berkshire (part)
- Yorkshire, West Riding (part)
- Nottinghamshire (part).
It is expected that about 100 structure plans, some of which will be prepared jointly by two or more authorities, will be required to cover the whole of England. Progress both on individual plans and on the total programme is regularly monitored by my Department and, according to the latest forecasts, the first of the plans are likely to be submitted to the Secretary of State as early as the spring of this year. In all, about 25 per cent. of the plans are at present expected to be submitted by 1st April 1974, with nearly another 25 per cent. forecast for submission by the end of 1975. These plans should cover the areas with major planning problems. Forecast dates of submission are not yet available for the balance of the plans, but the structure plan programme is accelerating and each quarterly report adds to our information on progress.
It is too soon, however, to forecast a date when structure plans will be in operation over the whole of England, but it is my Department's intention to deal as speedily as possible with submitted plans. The introduction of the new examination in public should help towards this aim and I shall be circulating very shortly for comments the draft of a booklet incorporating a code of practice for these examinations. This booklet makes quite clear the importance 162W which the Government attach to reasonable speed in dealing with structure plans.