§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Answer by the Lord McIntosh of Haringey on 7 July (H.L. Deb., col. 1091), whether Crown development under Department of the Environment Circular 18/84 on planning procedures for Crown land is subject to the normal planning procedure, including public inquiry. [HL2755]
§ Baroness HaymanDevelopment of its own land by the Crown is covered by the doctrine of Crown immunity. In most cases, therefore, proposals for such development do not require planning consent from the local planning authority. However, Crown bodies follow a procedure set out in Part IV of DoE Circular 18/84. 31WA This provides that the Crown body will issue a notice of proposed development to the local planning authority. If the local planning authority objects to the proposed development, and if those objections cannot be resolved in dialogue between the parties, the Crown body must refer the matter for resolution to my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions. To help him come to a decision on the matter, the Secretary of State may invite written representations from interested parties or, where there is no evidence of interest by other parties, he may cause a meeting to be held between the developing department and the local planning authority. In other cases he may take the formal step of holding a non-statutory public inquiry.