§ Mr. Roy Hughesasked the Secretary of State for Wales (1) what is the average length of time taken (a) to get a planning appeal registered, and (b) before the appeal is heard; and how this compares with the figures for England;
(2) what is the average length of waiting period after a planning appeal has been heard but before the result is made public; and how this compares with the same procedure in England.
§ Mr. Michael RobertsAppeals under sections 36 and 53 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1971 are registered within one week of receipt. The other information is given in the following table, but because the figures are calculated on a different basis and of other factors the Welsh ones are not comparable with those for England.
439W
Median times in weeks 1981 Appeals decided by Inquiry method Written method Receipt- Inquiry- receipt- inquiry decision decision Wales Secretary of State 23 26 38 Inspectors 25 4 21 England Secretary of State 26 16 32 Inspectors 22 3 18 Note: Median times are derived by ranking all cases in order of times taken and by taking the middle case as being representative of all.
§ Mr. Roy Hughesasked the Secretary of State for Wales how many planning appeals are outstanding in Wales; whether steps are being taken to speed up the procedures; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Michael Roberts712 planning appeals submitted under sections 36 and 53 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1971 remained on hand at the end of 1981.
Welsh Office circular 57/81 dated 18 December 1981 explained new procedures designed to speed up the handling of planning appeals. Other changes have been introduced following the consultation paper on the planning appeals system, which was issued in October 1980. Copies of the documents referred to are in the Library.