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Written Ministerial Statements
Thursday 8 July 2004
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
Regional Planning Guidance (South East)
The Minister for Housing and Planning (Keith Hill): My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister is today publishing for public consultation proposed changes to regional planning guidance for the South East. These proposed changes concern policies on energy efficiency and renewable energy and policies on tourism and related sports and recreation. They follow the public examination in November 2003 and the report of the independent panel in March 2004.
The changes stem from a partial review of RPG9 that aims to expand and further amplify policy on these topics. On commencement of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill RPG9 will be part of a statutory regional spatial strategy (RSS).
Proposed changes include new and revised policies to encourage energy efficient development and facilitate new renewable energy generation facilities. Additional spatial policy on renewable energy includes sub-regional targets for the deployment of renewable energy development to help the South East region contribute to the Government's commitments to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Guidance on tourism and related sports and recreation sets out the main areas in the region that are important for tourism and encourages joint working to manage and promote tourism and recreation activity.
Overall the panel considered the drafts to be broadly compatible with RPG9 and national policy. The panel did, however, recommend some changes. For example, on energy recommendations included the inclusion of landfill gas within the targets for generation, further definition of small-scale development and updates to the text to better reflect the Government's Energy White Paper. For tourism and related sport and recreation changes included revisions and additions to areas identified as important for tourism (including the River Thames), deletion of South Downs and New Forest National Parks as a priority area, further reference to growth areas in policy on regionally significant sporting facilities and additional clarification on the circumstances under which hotels may be exempt from the sequential test directing major travel generating uses to town centres.
Government are grateful for the recommendations of the panel. Government are proposing not to accept two of the panel's recommendations. These concern the application of landscape character assessment to all renewable energy schemes (the draft continues to recommend landscape character assessment in protected and sensitive landscapes) and exclusion of international attractions with specific catchment area
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requirements from a sequential test to direct new major development to growth areas and priority areas for economic regeneration.
The process of comprehensively reviewing RPG9 has already begun. Further refinement of these policies will be continued through this process. As part of this work the South East of England regional assembly is working towards improving the monitoring of renewable energy and tourism development. I support this valuable work.
I have today written to the regional assembly with the proposed changes. There will now be a public consultation period on the proposed changes, which will end on 3 September.
Copies of the relevant documents will be made available in the Libraries of both Houses and will also be provided for all of the region's MPs, MEPs and local authorities.
Council Tax Capping
The Minister for Local and Regional Government (Mr. Nick Raynsford): 0n 29 April, I made a statement to the House, setting out how the Government proposed to handle authorities which had set excessive budgets for 2004–05, Official Report, columns 1019–1021. I said that we were designating six local authorities and one fire authority, under the Local Government Finance Act 1992, with a view to capping them in a year. I also said that we were nominating a further four fire authorities and three police authorities with a view to taking action to restrain their budgets in 2005–06—either by setting a notional budget for this year against which future increases would be measured or by capping them in advance for next year.
The designated authorities were given 21 days in which to challenge the maximum budgets we proposed for 2004–05 and to provide us with the information we requested. The nominated authorities were required to send us information within the same period. All the designated authorities challenged the proposed maximum budgets and all the nominated authorities made representations against their nomination. Ministerial colleagues and I have met delegations from all 14 authorities.
Having carefully considered the representations made to us both orally and in writing and having taken into account all relevant information, I can now announce how we intend to proceed.
I am laying before the House today, for its approval, a draft order setting the following maximum budgets for six of the designated authorities in 2004–05:
| Herefordshire | £175,320,000 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nottingham | £331,055,000 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Torbay | £138,815,000 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Fenland | £12,223,000 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Shepway | £15,494,000 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hereford and Worcester Fire | £25,798,000
In all but one of these cases, the maximum budget is the same as we proposed in April. The exception is Hereford and Worcester Fire Authority, for which we are setting a higher cap than originally proposed to reflect the savings which the authority can reasonably be required to make. I am satisfied that the authority will be able to deliver a good service and all its statutory functions within the revised maximum budget.
I am cancelling the designation of Telford and Wrekin and nominating it instead with a proposed notional budget for this year of £169,374,000. This is the same as the maximum budget we proposed when it was designated in April. Had the authority been capped in year, its council taxpayers would have received a rebate of only 66p per band D property. We are writing to the authority today and it will have 21 days in which to challenge the proposed notional budget. We are also writing today to the seven local authorities which were nominated in April, proposing the following notional budgets for this year:
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