§ 57. Mr. Simon BurnsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he is satisfied with the performance of local authorities in dealing with planning applications.
§ Mr. WaldegraveNo. I believe that local authorities should be able to deal with at least 80 per cent. of planning applications within eight weeks of receiving them. On 1 February we published figures which showed that in the three months January-March 1987 41 authorities achieved that, but on average during that quarter English local authorities decided only 59 per cent. of applications within eight weeks. I hope that all local authorities will examine their procedures for handling planning applications and introduce improvements where appropriate, to make the system work more efficiently.