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8 Dec 2005 : Column 1514W—continued
London Borough of Croydon (Funding)
Mr. Pelling: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what proportion of the (a) European Structural Fund Objective 2, (b) Community Chest and (c) Estate Action funding stream from the Government Office for London was made available to the London borough of Croydon in 2004–05. [32433]
Yvette Cooper: No funding was available to the London borough of Croydon in 2004–05 through the European Structural Fund's Objective 2 Programme as it did not meet the European Union's eligibility criteria when the present round of Objective 2 Programmes were agreed.
In 2004–05 the Community Empowerment Network (CEN) in Croydon received funding of £243,139 underthe Single Community Programme. Of that the CEN allocated £112,600 for Small Grants (formerly
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Community Chest), and spent £137,001. Total Single Community Programme funding available in London in 2004–05 was £9,343,811.
2004–05 was the last year of Estate Action funding in London, which received £2,626,000 for two schemes in the London borough of Lambeth. The London borough of Croydon received no Estate Action funding.
London Mayor
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the people and organisations which were sent the consultation document on the Government's proposals for additional powers and responsibilities for the London Mayor and Greater London Assembly. [34966]
Mr. Woolas: The Government have sent its consultation document on proposals for additional powers and responsibilities for the Mayor of London and London Assembly to over 400 organisations and individuals. A list of recipients can be viewed on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's website at: www.odpm.gov.uk/gla/review
Materials Recycling (West Sussex)
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment his Department has made of the environmental implications of the proposed materials recycling facility at Ford in West Sussex. [35855]
Yvette Cooper: Assessment of the environmental implications of such developments is a matter for the local planning authority, in this case West Sussex county council, to determine in the first instance. I understand that the applicant submitted an environmental impact assessment with the planning application.
Should a planning application for a proposed materials recycling facility at Ford be referred to my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister the First Secretary of State for consideration, the environmental implications of the proposal would be considered together with other material considerations.
Mining
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessments are required to be conducted prior to an agreement being reached for the diversion of a river to enable the extension of open cast mining; and what ongoing monitoring of river quality is then required. [34485]
Yvette Cooper:
An environmental impact assessment (EIA) would almost certainly be necessary before any such proposal could be considered. EIA is mandatory for all open-cast mining at sites in excess of 25 hectares. In all other cases the proposals would be considered for EIA against the potential impacts, as would any works involving river canalisation in excess of 1 hectare. The Environment Agency would be consulted as part of theEIA process, and if it was decided in the light of the resulting environmental statement that the development should proceed, it could require conditions on the monitoring of river quality to be attached to the mineral permission. Planning policy for England is set out in PPS23, Planning and Pollution control Annex 1".
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Mobile Homes
Chris Huhne: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what rights those with mobile homes on plots owned by their local council have to buy the plot; and what plans he has to (a) review and (b) to change the legislation which applies in such cases. [31359]
Yvette Cooper: A park home owner does not have the right to buy the plot they rent from a local authority. Under Part V of the Housing Act 1985, the Right to Buy is available only to secure tenants who rent dwelling houses from a social landlord, who may buy the house or flat that they rent.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does not have any evidence to suggest that there is sufficient demand for right to buy from this sector and have no current plans to review and change the legislation.
Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (Leeds)
John Battle: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what programmes the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund has funded in Leeds West constituency since it began. [35122]
Mr. Woolas: Neighbourhood Renewal Fund is allocated at local authority level. Details of the individual activities funded by the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund are not collected at constituency level and, unfortunately, the information requested is not directly available. However, over the financial years 2000–01 to 2004–05, Leeds city council has confirmed expenditure of £27.3 million of Neighbourhood Renewal Fund for the delivery of agreed Local Strategic Partnership priorities focussed on accelerating improvements in the most deprived areas of the local authority district, some of which will be in the Leeds West constituency. Further detail on Neighbourhood Renewal Fund expenditure within the district may be obtained direct from the Leeds city council's Regeneration Service, which is located within its Neighbourhoods and Housing Department.
Planning
Philip Davies: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister howmany planning applications were referred to the planning inspector in (a) England and (b) Yorkshire in each of the last eight years; and in how many of those cases the planning inspector overturned the local planning authority's decision. [33877]
Yvette Cooper: The information is as follows.
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(14)These data are available for the last five years only.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the aggregated receipts to local planning authorities were from planning fees in England for each year from 1996–97 to 2004–05; and what the estimated figures are for 2005–06. [33167]
Yvette Cooper:
Planning fee receipts collected by English local authorities were estimated and are tabled as follows.
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| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 1996–97 | 110 |
| 1997–98 | 132 |
| 1998–99 | 132 |
| 1999–2000 | 134 |
| 2000–01 | 142 |
| 2001–02 | 144 |
| 2002–03 | 174 |
| 2003–04 | 188 |
| 2004–05 | 204 |
There is no official estimate for the current year 2005–06.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what changes the Government (a) has made since 1997 and (b) is planning to make to planning regulations relating to the use for residential purposes of land designated for employment, industrial or commercial purposes. [33168]
Yvette Cooper: Planning Policy Guidance note 3: Housing (PPG3), published in March 2000, asks localplanning authorities to review their non-housing allocations of land (including employment land) when reviewing their development plan and consider whether some of this land might be better used for housing or mixed use developments. This built on the general policy approach in the previous PPG3 published in 1992.
The PPG3 update 'Supporting the Delivery of New Housing', published in January this year, added a new paragraph to PPG3. This advocates the re-use of industrial and commercial land where it would be better used for housing and mixed use development unless a compelling case can be made for the retention of the current allocation.
A new draft Planning Policy Statement 3 was published on 5 December.
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