HL Deb 06 July 1993 vol 547 c50WA
Lord Kennet

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the Royal Parks authorities are bound by planning law.

Viscount Astor

Responsibility for the subject of the Question has been delegated to the Royal Parks Agency under its Chief Executive, Mr. Da.vid Welch. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given, and I shall place a copy of his reply in the Library.

Letter from Mr. David Welch, Chief Executive of the Royal Parks, to Lord Kennet, dated 30 June 1993 and signed by Mr. Richard Boyce in the absence of the Chief Executive.

Viscount Astor has asked me to reply to your Written Parliamentary Question asking:

Whether the Royal Parks authorities are bound by planning law.

At present, all development undertaken on Crown Land is subject to non-statutory arrangements set out in part IV of the Department of the Environment circular 18/84. All Crown bodies, including the Royal Parks, have adopted arrangements whereby a Crown body that wishes to develop land, obtain listed building consent or acquire hazardous substances, serves a notice of proposed development on the local planning authority. Where they and the local authority fail to reach agreement, the development proposal is referred to the Secretary of State for the Environment for decision, if necessary following a non-statutory public local inquiry.