§ Mr. Clifton-BrownTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions in relation to Statutory Instrument 2718 and the accompanying guidelines, what discussions his Department has had with all other Government Departments on the number of portable buildings they use which will have to be disposed of after five years; and what the estimated cost to public funds of disposing and replacing these units will be. [19878]
§ Ms KeebleStatutory Instrument 2718 is The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Amendment) (England) Order 2001. This order amends the planning guidelines relating to telecommunications masts, and has no relevance to portable buildings. There have thus been no such discussions with other Government Departments, or estimates made, in relation to this Statutory Instrument.
However, the hon. Member did raise the issue of portable buildings in the debate in the Second Standing Committee on Delegated Legislation on 21 November 2001 which considered the Prayer against both Statutory Instrument 2718 and Statutory Instrument 3335, The Building (Amendment) Regulations 2001. The Approved Document to Part L2 of the Building Regulations, which Statutory Instrument 3335 amended, gives guidance on how portable buildings may meet the requirements of Part L2 of the Regulations under the heading "Buildings constructed from sub-assemblies".
There is nothing in the guidance in the Approved Document that indicates that portable buildings will have to be disposed of after five years. It indicates that there are no restrictions at all on portable buildings that are moved from one place to another on the same site. With regard to buildings moved from one site to another the guidance is that a building constructed from external fabric sub-assemblies obtained from other premises or from a stock manufactured before 31 December 2001, would normally be considered to meet the requirement if the fabric thermal resistance or the prospective annual energy use will be no worse than the relevant performance standards given in the 1995 edition of Approved Document L.
It would thus have been inappropriate to have discussions, in relation to this Statutory Instrument and its supporting Approved Documents, with other Government Departments on the number of portable buildings they use which will have to be disposed of after five years, and what the estimated cost to public funds of disposing and replacing these units will be.