§ Mr. McQuarrieasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what assess- 76W ment he has made of the effect on the industry of any substantial increase in the scale of fees for applications under the existing planning and building control regulations.
§ Mr. StanleyA scheme of fees under the building regulations to be introduced from 1 April will raise, on average about three-quarters of 1 per cent. of the cost of works. It is not thought it will have a significant effect on construction activity.
Charges for planning applications are intended to raise about £30 million in a full year. A consultation paper on planning application charges will be issued soon.
§ Mr. McQuarrieasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many additional staff will be required to be recruited by local authorities for the collection of the proposed new scale of fees for building or planning applications under the existing building control regulations.
§ Mr. KingMy right hon. Friend has said that for building control fees he will expect local authorities to provide required staff resources from existing manpower provisions, by redeployment if necessary.
Charges for planning applications will be based on a simple scale which is not expensive to administer. Local authorities should not require to recruit extra staff.