| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
1 May 2008 : Column 668W—continued
Land Use: Agriculture
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the Government plan to review Planning Policy Statement 7 (2004) on developments on agricultural land; and if she will make a statement. [203074]
Mr. Iain Wright: We have no plans to revise policy in planning policy statement 7 (2004) on developments on agricultural land.
Local Authorities: Buildings
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what requirements there are upon a local authority to advertise the sale of a property of which it is disposing. [202560]
Mr. Iain Wright: Under section 123 of the Local Government Act 1972 and section 233 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, local authorities can dispose of land, including property, in any manner they wish. But if a local authority proposes to dispose of land that is open space, it must publish a notice of its proposals for at least two weeks in a local newspaper and consider any objections received. Open space in this context means any land laid out as a public garden, or used for the purposes of public recreation, or land which is a disused burial ground.
London Thames Gateway Development Corporation: Euro RSCG Apex Communications
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what payments the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation made to Euro RSCG Apex Communications in each of the last five years; on what dates; and for what purpose in each case. [202285]
Caroline Flint: The London Thames Gateway Development Corporation has employed Euro RSCG Apex Communications to provide general public affairs advice on a range of issues. They have made payments in 2006-07 of £26,261 and in 2007-08 of £14,834.
National Interest Mapping Services Agreement
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what changes in (a) service and (b) data provision Ordnance Survey has made to the Mapping for Emergencies service since the ending of the National Interest Mapping Services Agreement; and how many staff were employed by the service (i) before and (ii) after the period covered by that agreement. [202647]
Mr. Iain Wright: Since the ending of the National Interest Mapping Services Agreement (NIMSA) no fundamental changes have been made by Ordnance Survey to the Mapping for Emergencies service, though at an operational level Ordnance Survey has extended the arrangements with a number of its partners to ensure timely local supplies of information when appropriate, as well as improving processes, contact arrangements and raising awareness of the service among civil contingency response agencies.
No changes have been made to data provision under the Mapping for Emergencies service. Authorities responding to emergencies continue to be able to request data and mapping from Ordnance Survey's full range of products and services, as may be appropriate to the specific needs of the incident.
When a Mapping for Emergencies service request is received, staff are temporarily deployed from other duties according to their specialism, to meet the particular requirements of the incident.
Information on staff deployment to the Mapping for Emergencies service prior to 1 April 1999, when NIMSA was established, is not readily available, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. In the period
since NIMSA ended on 31 December 2006, a total of 12 different staff were deployed in response to two requests between 1 January and 31 March 2007. Twenty-three different staff were deployed across eight incidents during financial year 2007-2008.
Ordnance Survey: Mandate Communications
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what payments Ordnance Survey made to Mandate Communications/AS Biss and Co in each of the last five years; on what dates; and for what purpose in each case. [202287]
Mr. Iain Wright: Mandate Communications (formerly known as AS Biss and Co) provide Ordnance Survey with consultancy and advice on Corporate Communications and Public Affairs.
Mandate Communications have been contracted to Ordnance Survey since August 2007. Payments since that date amount to £42,076.20 + VAT in total.
Planning Permission: Prosecutions
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many prosecutions have been brought under building control regulations against people who have opened up access through the party wall of adjoining terraced properties without permission since 2001. [202923]
Mr. Iain Wright: None. These are two separate pieces of legislation.
The building regulations set out a series of performance standards which building work should achieve and the process for ensuring compliance with those requirements. They are enforced by the relevant building control body.
The Party Wall etc Act 1996 provides a framework for preventing and resolving disputes in relation to party walls, boundary walls and excavations near neighbouring buildings. Responsibility for ensuring compliance rests with the building owner who wishes to carry out the work. Failure to follow the procedures laid down in the Act is a civil matter for the relevant parties.
Regional Planning and Development
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Peterborough (Mr. Jackson) of 3 April 2008, Official Report, column 1275W, on regional planning and development, in which local authorities have Development Plan documents have been (a) amended by the planning inspector and (b) rejected by the planning inspector as unsound. [202481]
Mr. Iain Wright:
The planning inspector does not ‘amend’ development plan documents. The purpose of the independent examination is to consider if the development plan document is sound. An inspector may find the document sound; he may recommend that it is changed in order to become sound; or he may find it unsound and recommend that it is withdrawn. A local authority may only adopt a plan in accordance
with the inspector’s recommendations; but it also may choose not to adopt a plan.
Development plan documents for the following local authorities have been found sound by inspectors subject to inspectors’ recommendations for changes.
Bedford
Broads Authority
Chelmsford
South Cambridgeshire
Southend on Sea
Havering
Kingston on Thames
Redbridge
Alnwick
Blyth Valley
Middlesbrough
Newcastle upon Tyne
Redcar and Cleveland
South Tyneside
Tynedale
Bracknell Forest
Crawley
Epsom and Ewell
Hampshire
Horsham
Maidstone
Mid Sussex
Milton Keynes
Portsmouth
Reading
Surrey
Tonbridge and Malling
Carrick
Dartmoor
Mid Devon
Plymouth
South Hams
Staffordshire
Telford and Wrekin
Worcester
Hambleton
Development plan documents for the following local authorities have been found unsound by inspectors.
Windsor and Maidenhead
Carrick
Teignbridge
Lichfield
Stafford
Worcester
Ryedale
Restormel
Chichester
Social Rented Housing: Private Finance Initiative
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the statement of 25 February 2008, Official Report, column 66-67WS, on the national strategy for housing in an ageing society: disabled facilities grant (funding), whether socially rented housing built under private finance initiative arrangements will be (a) classed as publicly-funded housing and (b) required to be built to Lifetime Homes Standards from 2011. [197006]
Mr. Iain Wright [holding answer 27 March 2008]: Social rented housing built under a PFI contract is constructed using private sector capital investment but the cost is underpinned by contractual payments to the private sector from the local authority revenue budget which are partly supported by central Government grant. On this basis PFI would count as publicly funded.
We intend that social rented homes built under PFI from 2011 are built to Lifetime Homes Standards.
Valuation Office: ICT
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what information from local authority (a) planning and (b) building control departments is passed to the Valuation Office Agency via the Valuebill interface. [202631]
John Healey: No information from either planning or building control departments is passed directly to the Valuation Office Agency via the Valuebill interface.
Billing authority revenues departments send electronic billing authority reports (e-BARs) to the Valuation Office Agency via electronic interfaces developed through Valuebill. Some of these e-BARs are instigated as a result of information received by the revenues department from the planning or building control departments.
Home Department
Arrests: Football
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) arrests, (b) prosecutions and (c) convictions of supporters of each team were made at Premier League football matches in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [195833]
Mr. Coaker: The information requested, which is collated by the UK Football Policing Unit, is shown in the following tables.
| 2002-03 s eason | 2003-04 season | |||||||
| Arrests | Cautioned | Charged | Convicted | Arrests | Cautioned | Charged | Convicted | |
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |