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3 Feb 2009 : Column 1151W—continued
Housing: Construction
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans she has to improve accessibility to plots of land for use by self-builders. [252933]
Mr. Iain Wright:
Applications for self-build development will be considered by the local planning authority in line with the policies in their local development framework. There are no plans to issue further policy or guidance. In order to provide information about what surplus public sector sites are available for development the Homes and Communities Agency is proposing to establish a small sites programme whereby developers and self-builders will be made aware about the release of former public sector sites on to the market. This programme is
not yet fully developed but in advance of this details for some small sites to be auctioned in mid February by the Homes and Communities Agency will be released on their website shortly. Details of small sites recently taken to the market by the Homes and Communities Agency's predecessor, English Partnership, can be accessed through this web address:
Housing: Sales
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield of 16 December 2008, Official Report, column 592W, on housing sales, what the terms of reference of the working group on condition information are; and what the group's membership is. [251885]
Mr. Iain Wright: The membership and terms of reference of the working group are still being finalised. I will place a copy of this information in the House once this work is complete.
Land Use: Castle Point
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what information her Department holds on discussions (1) which have taken place between (a) officers, (b) Members and (c) actual or potential developers under the auspices of Castle Point Borough Council and Essex County Council in respect of the building of (i) a new link road for Cornelius Vermuyden School and (ii) other development of land west of the school; and if she will make a statement; [250950]
(2) between (a) officers, (b) Members and (c) actual potential developers under the auspices of Castle Point Borough Council and Essex County Council on planning developments on Castle View School playing fields; and if she will make a statement. [250951]
Mr. Iain Wright: The Secretary of State Communities and Local Government, holds no information on discussions which have taken place between (a) officer, (b) Members and (c) actual or potential developers under the auspices of Castle Point borough council and Essex county council on planning developments on Castle View school playing fields.
The Secretary of State is however aware of a petition dated 7 October 2008 submitted by the hon. Gentleman, requesting that the House of Commons urge the Government to press Castle Point borough councillors to vote against the plan to sell off a Canvey Island school playing field for development.
Local Government: Private Finance Initiative
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many local authorities have applied for PFI contracts in each of the last five years; and what the value of each of these contracts was. [253241]
Mr. Khan: Central Government support has been agreed for the following number of local authority PFI projects (including under Building Schools for the Future contracts) in each of the last five years:
| Number | |
Records of project capital values supported by central government in the form of PFI credits are updated regularly. These are available on the CLG website at:
Official Cars
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what cars of what engine cubic capacity are (a) owned and (b) leased by her Department. [250029]
Mr. Khan: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport on 26 January 2009, Official Report, column 10W, regarding cars provided by the Government Car and Despatch Agency.
The Department itself does not own or lease any cars. When cars are needed for official purposes they are hired from the Department’s approved supplier or from the Government Car and Dispatch Agency.
Ordnance Survey: Datasets
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what datasets Ordnance Survey collates on (a) access and (b) proximity to public transport. [252304]
Mr. Iain Wright: Ordnance Survey datasets are primarily topographic in nature, as they record the location of the physical features of the natural and man-made environment. Depending upon the scale and specification of the dataset, they contain details of the topographic alignment of roads, railways, tramways, canals and navigable waterways which may be used by public transport, together with the position of features such as coach, bus and railway stations, airport complexes, and on large scale mapping bus shelters.
Ordnance Survey does not explicitly hold, maintain or provide datasets relating to qualitative information on public transport routes or access to public transport, though some information of this nature may be inferred from the topographic data.
Ordnance Survey: Photography
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether Ordnance Survey uses (a) aerial and (b) satellite photography to develop its (i) 1:10,000 raster, (ii) 1:50,000 raster, (iii) 1:25,000 raster, (iv) Boundary Line, (v) Code Point with Polygons, (vi) Master Map Topography Layer and (vii) Address Layer 2 products. [252295]
Mr. Iain Wright:
Ordnance Survey uses aerial imagery to assist in revising the topographic geometry contained within the National Topographic Database (NGD), at
nominal scales of 1:1250 in urban areas, 1:2500 in rural areas and 1:10,000 in mountain and moorland areas. NGD feeds the OS MasterMapÂ(r) Topography Layer dataset, while revision of raster data at scales of 1:10,000, 1:25,000 and 1:50,000 is derived from NGD in whole or part. Boundary-Lineâ"¢, Code-PointÂ(r) with polygons and OS MasterMapÂ(r) Address Layer 2 do not involve information derived from Aerial imagery.
Ordnance Survey has not used satellite imagery imagery.
Planning Permission
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst of 29 October 2008, Official Report, column 1152W, on planning permission, what changes to her Department's policy on call-ins are under consideration for inclusion in the new Direction. [252788]
Mr. Iain Wright: A consultation on the review of call-in directions was carried out between 7 January 2008 and 31 March 2008. This set out proposals aimed at reducing the number of planning applications automatically referred to Government for consideration of whether they should be ‘called in’ for ministerial decision by consolidating the existing directions into one new direction, with some changes to reflect current policy, specifically:
Deleting the requirement to refer cases of over 150 houses;
Deleting the requirement to refer cases of local authorities developing their own land, or being the applicant for development;
Deleting the requirement to refer cases which would significantly prejudice the implementation of the development plan’s policies and proposals;
Retaining the requirement to refer applications involving more than 5,000 square metres of gross retail, leisure, office or mixed commercial floor space but only for proposals on sites in edge or out of centre locations and which are not in accordance with an up to date development plan document; and extending this requirement to include some proposals for increases of existing floor space of over 2,500 square metres, where the total would then exceed 5,000 square metres;
Introducing a new requirement to refer proposals which may have a significant adverse impact on the outstanding universal value and significance of a World Heritage Site or its setting;
All other requirements remain unchanged.
Further details of the Government's proposals can be found in the consultation document which is available on the Department's website at:
Copies of the consultation document have been placed in the Library of the House. The Government are in the process of analysing the responses received to the consultation with a view to publishing a new direction in the spring.
Planning Permission: Appeals
Mrs. Spelman:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst of 30 October 2008, Official Report, columns 1287-8W, on planning permission, what guidance has been given to the Planning Inspectorate
on how a planning appeal should be considered if a materially relevant Planning Policy Statement or Planning Policy Guidance note has changed in the period after the original planning application was considered by the local planning authority, with particular reference to whether the previous Planning Policy Statement or Guidance or the new version should be applied when assessing the merits of the appeal; and whether the same principles will apply to national policy statements which are revised. [252740]
Mr. Iain Wright: No such guidance has been issued.
In relation to an appeal under section 78 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, the Secretary of State has a power under Section 79(1) of the same Act to deal with an application as if it had been made to her in the first instance, which means that she can take account of any new policy which has come into force since the local planning authority made its decision. An appeal will be determined on the basis of policy which exists at the time the appeal is being determined.
Planning Permission: Caravan Sites
Mr. Pickles:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how many (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful appeals against
refusal of planning permission for unauthorised traveller sites were considered by (i) the Secretary of State and (ii) the Planning Inspectorate in each year since 1997; [251866]
(2) with reference to the answer to Lord Avebury of 25 November 2008, Official Report, House of Lords, column WA284, on Gypsies and Travellers, how many appeals against refusal of planning permission for authorised traveller sites (a) she and (b) the Planning Inspectorate considered in each year since 1997 for which figures are available; and how many were (i) refused and (ii) upheld. [251935]
Mr. Iain Wright: Information in relation to planning appeals against refusal of planning permission for authorised or unauthorised traveller sites is not held centrally and could only be collated at disproportionate cost.
Data are available on numbers of planning appeals determined by the Secretary of State and the Inspectorate relating to both Gypsies and Travellers with effect from 2002 to 2008 and their outcome. This is shown in calendar years in the following table. Detailed data on Gypsies and Travellers are only available from 2002 with data for Secretary of State appeals only available from 1 April 2002.
| Secretary of State | Planning Inspectorate | |||||
| Planning Appeals | Appeal upheld (Allowed) | Appeal refused (Dismissed ) | Total | Appeal upheld (Allowed) | Appeal refused (Dismissed ) | Total |
Planning Permission: Hammersmith and Fulham
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on what grounds she called in the planning application for the G Gate Hotel in Olympia in the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. [252723]
Mr. Iain Wright: The Secretary of State's reasons for calling in the application are set out in paragraph 4 of her call-in letter of 23 October 2008, a copy of which has been deposited in the Libraries of the House and on the Government Office for London's website.
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