§ Mrs. Rumboldasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what measures of deregulation his Department has achieved during the year 1983–84; and what his plans are for 1984–85.
§ Mr. JenkinDuring the year of 1983–84 my Department took a number of steps to reduce the burden of Government bureaucracy and control at both national and local levels. These included
— the abolition of the National Water Council;— the establishment of eight new enterprise zones in England, with a simplified planning regime;—minor relaxations in the accounting requirements of small housing associations, the administration of the 378W building society support lending scheme, and in the financial regime governing the urban development corporations;—the issue of 77 per cent. fewer circulars to local authorities than in the final 12 months of the last Labour Government.In 1984–85 further measures to reduce control and simplify procedures will be introduced. It is proposed to update the General Development Order 1977, subject to Parliamentary approval; this will relax planning control over a range of minor developments. A consultation paper has already been issued on proposals to establish Simplified Planning Zones in which specified development would be authorised without the need for a planning application.
Efforts in the non-statutory field, to help make development control more efficient, more responsive, and less likely to obstruct development unnecessarily, will continue. Plans have been prepared, following the enactment of recent legislation, for a major simplification of the building control system, including a significant widening of exemptions from the building regulations; we aim to make these changes early in 1985.