§ 76. Mr. Evelyn Kingasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what estimate he has made concerning the numbers of staffs of local planning authorities following the 10 to 20 per cent. reduction in planning applications which is forecast following his recent announcement; and if he will issue a circular to local authorities indicating appropriate guidelines.
§ Mr. Guy BarnettNone, but the object of S.I. 1977 No. 1781 is to improve the speed with which the development control system deals with applications, and I hope that the resources made available by any reductions in workload will be devoted to that purpose.