§ Mr. HammondTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what criteria his Department uses for determining need for motorway service areas. [147419]
§ Mr. HillProposals for new motorway service areas (MSAs) are subject to the normal operation of the land use planning system. It is therefore for local planning authorities—or the inquiry Inspector in the event of an appeal—rather than my Department to weigh the need for a proposed MSA. Guidance to planners on how to assess that need is contained in Circular Roads 1–94 and a policy statement which the then Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead and Highgate (Ms Jackson), made to the House on 31 July 1998,Official Report, column 611W. Copies of both documents are available from the Library.
§ Mr. HammondTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) if it remains the policy of his Department that a motorway service area is required on the south-western quadrant of the M25 motorway; [147418]
(2) if he will make it his policy that in future considerations of planning applications and appeals in respect of motorway service areas on the M25 south western quadrant, each application and appeal is considered without a presumption that at least one of the proposed sites must be successful. [147624]
194W
§ Mr. MeacherThe common definition of a fuel poor household is one that needs to spend in excess of 10 per cent, of household income in order to maintain a satisfactory heating regime. Using data from the latest English House Condition Survey, the following table shows the effect of different options for calculating household income on the number of households defined as fuel poor by Government Office region in 19961.
§ Mr. HillThe statement to the House by the then Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead and Highgate (Ms Jackson), on 31 July 1998,Official Report, column 611W, described the Government's policy on the spacing of motorway service areas (MSAs). It explained that this policy was likely to mean that there would be either one or two MSAs on the western side of the M25. The policy did not, and does not, necessarily require an MSA on the south-western sector. Proposals will therefore be considered on their individual planning merits and there is no presumption that either a site within this sector, or any other currently proposed M25 MSA, must be successful.