§ Mr. DykesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to publish his final legislative proposals to increase local planning controls over the unnecessary demolition of dwelling houses by developers prior to any redevelopment activity.
§ Mr. YeoMy hon. Friend will recall that we published proposals for public consultation in July last year. We have carefully considered the responses to the options we proposed. In the light of these responses, we have decided how to proceed. In about two months' time, we hope to make the instruments needed to commence the new controls, comprising a commencement order for the relevant parts of the Planning and Compensation Act 1991; a direction which makes clear which types of building are to be subjected to the new controls over demolition; and a general development amendment order, designed to ensure that the new controls operate in an efficient way, and without undue burden on either local authorities or potential developers.
The main effect of the new system will be that those who wish to demolish a dwelling-house, or a building attached to a dwelling-house, will first need to notify the local planning authority and give 28 days for the authority to decide whether to call for details of the demolition, which it would then consider in the same way as a planning application—the right to demolish, subject to complying with the conditions, would not be removed or to make an article 4 direction, which would require a full planning application to be made, in which case there might be a requirement to pay the owner compensation. We do not expect the new system to result in a substantial number of planning applications for demolition, since in practice most of the details are likely to be sorted out in negotiation between the local planning authority and the developer in the context of his planning application for replacement buildings on any site.