§ Dr. Cunninghamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will now estimate the number of additional civil servants that would be required in regional offices of his Department to issue guidance to metropolitan district councils on structure plans and to convene regional conferences of planning authorities in the event of the implementation of Cmnd. 9063 and accompanying consultation papers.
§ Mr. Patrick JenkinAlthough some additional staff may be needed in the regional offices, these would be met from within the overall planned allocation of the Department.
§ Dr. Cunninghamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will estimate the number of additional staff which metropolitan district councils would require to undertake structure plan preparation and review in the event of the implementation of Cmnd. 9063 and accompanying consultation papers.
§ Mr. Patrick JenkinIt will be for borough and district councils to consider what arrangements to make for carrying out this additional work. The intention is that the metropolitan structure plans will be short policy statements and there should not be a significant increase in work load.
§ Dr. Cunninghamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will introduce legislation to control the ability of a shire county to alter its own structure plan similar to those proposed for the metropolitan districts in Cmnd. 9063 and accompanying consultation papers.
§ Mr. Patrick JenkinNo such legislation is proposed.