§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) how many planning inspectors are currently in place; and on what grades they are; [820]
(2) what is the current waiting time for appeal cases to be heard from receipt of appeals; [819]
151W(3) what was the backlog of appeals being dealt with by the Planning Inspectorate on 5 May. [818]
§ Mr. RaynsfordResponsibility for the provision of information on performance on the processing of planning appeals and other operational matters has been delegated to the Planning Inspectorate Agency under its Chief Executive Mr. Chris Shepley. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from C. J. Shepley to Mr. Keith Vaz, dated 21 May 1997:
The Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions has asked me to reply to your Questions about:the current waiting time for appeal cases to be heard;the number and grades of planning inspectors;the current backlog of appeals being dealt with by the Planning Inspectorate on 5 May.During April the average waiting time for dates offered to the parties for planning appeals to be heard at both a public inquiry and a hearing was 26 weeks from the start of the appeal.
On 1 May 1997 the Planning Inspectorate had 379 Planning Inspectors. Of the 224 salaried Inspectors there were 42 Principal Housing and Planning Inspectors, 149 Senior Housing and Planning Inspectors and 33 Housing and Planning Inspectors. The remaining inspectors were fee paid.
The planning appeal system is governed by procedure rules. These rules prescribe the time allowed for the parties to the appeal to compete the various stages of the process. As a consequence there will always be appeals in the process awaiting determination. On 5 May there were 6,879 planning appeals being dealt with by the Inspectorate in England.