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Departmental Expenditure
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what has been the total expenditure and the breakdown of expenditure in his Department since May 1997 on (a) public opinion research, (b) television, radio and newspaper advertising and (c) direct mail. [63923]
Mr. Meale: The Department carries out public opinion research, television, radio and press advertising and direct mailings in support of publicity campaigns. The total expenditure since May 1997 is £10,630,000. The breakdown of that expenditure is as follows:
| Project | Expenditure (1) |
|---|---|
| (a) Public opinion research on DETR campaigns | 560,000 |
| (b) Television advertising | 6,500,000 |
| Radio advertising | 1,560,000 |
| Press advertising | 1,840,000 |
| (c) Mailings in support of campaigns and consultation exercises | (2)170,000 |
(1) To the nearest £10,000
(2) Includes postage
South West Regional Planning Conference
Mr. Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what powers he has to override decisions made by the South West regional planning conference. [64147]
Mr. Caborn: Under the new arrangements for the preparation of regional planning guidance set out in the planning policy statement "Planning for the Communities of the Future" (Cmnd 3885), Regional Planning Conferences will have greater responsibility for determining the most sustainable way of meeting housing needs in their region. It is intended that this should be a more inclusive process, Conference will work together with the Government Office, the Regional Development Agency and other regional stakeholders to produce draft Regional Planning Guidance. Increased legitimacy and transparency of the Regional Planning Guidance will be achieved through new procedures for a public examination before an independent panel. The panel report will be taken into account by the Secretary of State in finalising the regional planning guidance.
Mr. Harvey:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what guidance he has given the South West regional planning conference on the effect of the future household projections on each county in the region. [64146]
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Mr. Caborn:
As indicated in the policy statement, "Planning for the Communities of the Future" (Cmnd 3885) we need to provide enough housing to help meet the housing objective of offering everyone the opportunity of a decent home and so promote social cohesion, well-being and self-dependence. Achieving sustainable development means addressing economic, social and environmental objectives equally, both for present and future generations. The Government's objective is to provide sustainable solutions which will help ensure that new housing will, by its nature and location, enhance the quality of the environment. The household projections are the starting point for assessing housing requirements and local authorities will need to be realistic in the assumptions that they make about the number of households likely to form and how they should be accommodated.
Mr. Harvey:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what guidance he has given the South West regional planning conference on how to meet the needs assumed by his projections for future household numbers. [64145]
Mr. Caborn:
The Government's approach to offering everyone the opportunity of a decent home is set out in its response (Cmnd 4080) to the tenth report from the Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Committee, Session 1997-98, on Housing and the policy statement "Planning for the Communities of the Future" (Cmnd 3885). In considering the broad distribution of housing within the region the South West Regional Planning Conference is also expected to have regard to the Government's policy for urban regeneration, transport and sustainable development and to the Regional Development Agency's regional economic strategy.
Mr. Harvey:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what representations he has received regarding his projections for the south-west region future household numbers. [64144]
Mr. Caborn:
None. Work is currently underway on the 1996 based household projections, which will be issued next Spring.
Mr. Harvey:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will allow local authorities in the south-west to postpone development plans until regional planning guidance is revised following the result of his survey of brown-field land. [64149]
Mr. Caborn:
No. The importance for the plan-led system of keeping plans up to date was emphasised in the statement on Modernising planning, published on 15 January. Under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, as amended, local planning authorities, in preparing their development plans, must have regard to any regional or strategic planning guidance issued by the Secretary of State, as well as to current national policies and other matters. Therefore, where development plans are being
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replaced or altered in the short term, they should continue to have regard to existing regional guidance, including, where specified, the housing provision figures.
Mr. Harvey:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what guidance he has given local authorities in the south-west region on sustainable means of meeting the housing needs of their community. [64148]
Mr. Caborn:
The policy statement "Planning for the Communities of the Future" (Cmnd 3885) set out the Government's broad approach. The consultation document, "Opportunities for Change", issued in February set out four broad objectives on which the Government's vision of sustainable development is based and what needs to be done to put it into practice. Further guidance is set out in "Planning for Sustainable Development: Towards Better Practice", published by my Department in October.
Mr. Harvey:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has to assist local planning authorities in delivering more sustainable patterns of development. [64150]
Mr. Caborn:
In October my Department issued a guide to local planning authorities entitled "Planning for Sustainable Development: Towards Better Practice". This document has been well-received as a source of practical ideas about how sustainability principles can be implemented on the ground.
My Department's series of Planning Policy Guidance notes (PPGs) advise local planning authorities on how they should draw up their plans to ensure more sustainable patterns of development. We intend to issue shortly a new draft PPG11 on regional planning guidance. This will advise the regional planning bodies that the promotion of sustainable development should be a central feature of RPG. Moreover, we will also shortly be issuing a full revision of PPG12 (Development Plans) for public consultation. This will include a section devoted to the relationship between the content of development plans, for which local planning authorities are responsible, and sustainable development.
Mr. Harvey:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what response he has made to the draft Devon County Structure Plan. [64152]
Mr. Caborn:
We have carefully considered the proposed modifications to the Devon Structure Plan First Review which were published on 28 September and have made objections to a number of policies that appear to conflict with national guidance. A number of objections have been resolved and the extant objections relate to policies S6, C7, C12, C23, T14, H1, E8 and T12.
The objection to policy HI stated:
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"There is no clear justification for a reduction in the overall provision for housing, below that recommended by the Panel. There appears to be no justification for reducing provision in anticipation
of a reduction in vacancy rates, having regard to the Panel's findings. Taking account of the panels findings, there does not appear to be a sound basis for projecting a lower level of net in-migration and household formation and that contained in the DETR 1992 based household projections.
"From a regional perspective, the district distribution is in part consequential on the county provision. However, the reduced allocations for Plymouth and Exeter (compared to those recommended by the Panel) appear to conflict with national and regional objectives in PPG13 para 3.2 and RPG10 para 6.7 and 'Planning for the Communities of the Future' para 58".
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