HC Deb 22 February 1980 vol 979 c615W
77. Mr. Squire

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to publish his proposals for a new general development order.

Mr. Fox

The Department has today issued a consultation paper which sets out our proposals for amending the General Development Order 1977, which applied to England and Wales. Briefly, the proposals are:

  1. (i) householders to be allowed to extend their houses by up to 15 per cent.—or 70 cubic metres if greater—without needing a planning application. The current limits are 10 per cent. or 50 cubic metres. The existing maximum limit of 115 cubic metres to be unchanged.
  2. (ii) private garages only to count within this limit if they are within 5 metres of the house. Otherwise to treat them in the same way as other outbuildings.
  3. (iii) the limit for permitted extensions to industrial buildings to he raised from 10 per cent. to 20 per cent. This to be subject to a maximum increase in floor area of 750 square metres instead of 500 square metres as at present.

We consider that there should not be any relaxation of planning controls in areas which are particularly sensitive to uncontrolled development. The amendments will therefore not apply in national parks areas, areas of outstanding natural beauty and conservation areas.

We believe these changes should result in a worthwhile reduction in the load on the planning machine, and enable local planning authorities to reduce expenditure and concentrate on the more important applications.

We have placed a copy of the consultation paper in the Library. Responses are requested by the end of April.