§ Sir John FarrTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment why his Department instructed the joint local valuation panels for Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire to close their administrative unit at Leicester and move to Nottingham; and what consideration was given to making the new central unit as readily accessible as possible.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyThe three panels and the Department agreed last year that the present offices at Leicester and Nottingham would be inadequate to cope with the future workload and staffing requirements arising from the non-domestic rating revaluation and the panels' new role as the appellate body for community charge appeals. In common with other panels which are jointly administered by a single clerk, it was decided that a single office should be established. Nottingham was the preferred location of the panels, as 60 per cent. of the workload of the three counties is drawn from that county and the nearby area of Loughborough.
The service to appellants will not be affected. Local valuation court hearings are held at centres throughout the three counties.