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Out-of-town Shopping Centres
Mr. Colvin:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what is the Government's policy towards out-of-town shopping centres; and if he will make a statement. [7659]
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Mr. Raynsford:
Planning policy guidance is contained in PPG6: Town Centres and Retail Developments. We have no current plans to change it.
Mr. Gordon Marsden:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has to curb the development of unlicensed and unregistered private households offering bed and breakfast facilities to visitors outside the six-bed rule.[7713]
Mr. Raynsford:
The "six-bedspace" exemption from rates was designed to ensure that those who provide extra accommodation in peak periods during the summer, or in out of the way places, are not put off doing so by the threat of a rates bill. However, we see no reason to exempt from rates anyone who offers accommodation when the use of property for this purpose is clearly non-domestic so, to qualify, the use of such property for bed and breakfast must be subsidiary to its use as a residence.
The Valuation Office Agency have issued guidance to their local offices on interpretation of the subsidiary use test to ensure that it is being applied correctly.
Mrs. Ballard:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has to return control over local authority housing rent levels to local authorities. [7464]
Mr. Raynsford:
Local housing authorities set their own rent levels, reviewing them from time to time as circumstances require. In setting their rents they have regard to their statutory duty to balance the housing revenue account, taking account, among other things, of any housing revenue account subsidy payable to them for the year. We are currently examining the financing of local authority housing as part of our comprehensive review of spending.
Mr. Burstow:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list for each of the last five years the standard spending assessment for social services for each local authority, the percentage change from one year to the next and the amount that was actually spent on social services in each of those years. [7438]
Mr. Raynsford
[holding answer 10 July 1997]: I have arranged for the information requested to be placed in the Library.
Mr. Forth:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will give for the review of compulsory competitive tendering (a) the expected completion date and (b) the cost of conducting the review. [8241]
Mr. Raynsford:
The review of existing CCT legislation and guidance in England and Wales will be completed shortly. Following consultation, new
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regulations and guidance will be issued in the autumn. The cost of conducting the review to the point of consultation on proposals is estimated at £36,500.
Ms Kelly:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will estimate the money Bolton will receive from the release of local authority capital receipts. [7930]
Mr. Raynsford:
The Government provided figures illustrating alternative methods of distributing additional Supplementary Credit Approvals to individual local authorities in a table accompanying the consultation paper on proposals for implementing the capital receipts initiative in England. That paper was issued on 19 July and copies have been deposited in the Library of the House. Final allocations to individual authorities, however, will not be available until the consultation period has ended and we have given careful consideration to the comments received.
Mr. Viggers:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what studies his Department is undertaking to redefine the planning guidelines and other framework provisions which apply when Ministry of Defence land is declared redundant with consequent disposal of the land by that Department.[7913]
Mr. Raynsford:
My Department is currently preparing to commission research which will examine the relationship between the planning system; the advice currently provided to Government Departments by the Treasury on the disposal of redundant property; and the need to maximise the disposal value of such property, whilst taking full account of the wider economic and social regeneration considerations. The Government Offices in the Regions and the MOD are together drawing up, and intend to publish, guidelines on the disposal of redundant defence establishments. Our objective is to maximise their potential in order to mitigate the impact of closures on local communities, and to reduce the demand for development on greenfield sites, while at the same time protecting our historic heritage and general environment.
Mr. Opik:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many full-time youth workers are employed by each local authority in England and Wales. [8429]
Mr. Raynsford:
This information is not available centrally.
Mr. Singh:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has for the implementation of EU directive 96/61, on integrated pollution prevention and control. [8759]
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Mr. Meacher:
The Government will tomorrow be issuing a consultation paper on the implementation of this important directive. I shall arrange for copies to placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Mr. Baker:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many stop notices have been served in each year from 1985 to date to prevent damage to sites of special scientific interest; and in how many of those cases the stop notice was subsequently lifted and damage caused. [7611]
Angela Eagle:
Nature Conservation Orders made by the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions are listed below:
| Year | Number of Orders (stop notices) |
|---|---|
| 1985-86 | 5 |
| 1986-87 | 1 |
| 1987-88 | 2 |
| 1988-89 | 0 |
| 1989-90 | 6 |
| 1990-91 | 3 |
| 1991-92 | 0 |
| 1992-93 | 1 |
| 1993-94 | 2 |
| 1994-95 | 2 |
| 1995-96 | 2 |
| 1996-97 | 2 |
| 1997- | 1 |
Eleven Orders have subsequently been revoked. There have been no instances of damage following revocation.
Mr. Baker:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many sites of special scientific interest were damaged in each year from 1985 to date; and what were the causes. [7610]
Angela Eagle:
Details of the number of incidents, area damaged, outcomes of the damaging activity and the type of activity are published in the annual reports produced by the respective country agencies, English Nature, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Countryside Council for Wales and, prior to 1991, by the Nature Conservancy Council, all of which are held in the Library of the House.
Mr. Baker:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has to review the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.[7609]
Angela Eagle:
Ministers in the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions are currently considering the need to review specific sections of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
Mr. Malcolm Bruce:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what new plans he has to introduce cuts and savings in his Department as a result of the effect on his Department's
14 Jul 1997 : Column: 11
budgets for 1997-98 and 1998-99 of the upward revisions to the GDP deflators in the Budget on 2 July; and if he will make a statement. [8319]
Angela Eagle:
All Departments are reallocating spending within their Departmental ceilings as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review. The planned total for local authority grants (net Aggregate External Finance) for 1998-99 was announced in the Budget.
Mr. Malcolm Bruce:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if, following the recent Budget, he will give his estimate of the total real level of his Department's budget, in 1995-96 prices, in (a) 1997-98 and (b) 1998-99; if he will estimate what such figures were for (1) 1997-98 and (2) 1998-99 following the November 1996 Budget on the basis of the estimates of the GDP deflator contained in that Budget; and if he will make a statement. [8318]
Angela Eagle:
The figures requested for my Department's spending plans within the Control Total are as follows: £41,776 million; £41,227 million; £42,244 million; and £41,249 million. In addition, local authorities will benefit from spending under the Capital Receipts Initiative, which is outside the Control Total, as announced in the Budget. The figures for 1997-98 have not been adjusted to take account of the Summer Supplementary Estimates presented to Parliament on 8 July but not yet approved.
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