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10 Nov 2009 : Column 283W—continued
| Post offices,( 1) England | ||
| As at 1 April each year | Number | |
| (1) Prior to 1 April 2005 some post offices were included under other SCAT codes. | ||
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many hereditaments there are under each Valuation Office Agency (a) 2005 Rating List and (b) individual special category code and associated alphanumeric description on the draft 2010 Rating List. [297437]
Barbara Follett: I have placed in the Library of the House a table showing the number of hereditaments for England broken down by the full alphanumeric special category code on both the 2005 Ratings List and the draft 2010 Ratings List at 29 May 2009. These data are consistent with the consultation document titled: "The transitional arrangements for the non-domestic rating revaluation 2010 in England", published on 8 July 2009. A copy of the consultation document is available at the following link:
The number of hereditaments in each special category code has been rounded to the nearest 10.
Planning Applications Review
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to Recommendation 1 of the Killian Pretty Review of the planning application process of November 2008, how many and what proportion of (a) minor non-residential and (b) householder developments have been removed from the need to apply for full planning permission. [298380]
Mr. Ian Austin: Recommendation 1 of the Killian Pretty review was that Government should substantially reduce the number of minor non-domestic developments requiring planning permission. This recommendation made no reference to householder developments, which had already been subject to reforms, introduced in October 2008.
In response to Recommendation 1, proposals to remove approximately 25,000 minor non-domestic developments from the need to submit full planning applications annually in England (approximately 30 per cent. of all minor non-domestic applications) were the subject of public consultation between 30 July and 23 October 2009. Subject to the outcome of our consideration of the consultation responses, secondary legislation enacting these proposals is expected in April 2010.
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to Recommendation 15 of the Killian Pretty Review of the planning application process of November 2008, when his Department plans to replace the time-target based National Indicator with a Satisfaction with the planning application service indicator. [298381]
Mr. Ian Austin: A discussion document on a revised indicator of planning performance was included within the document "Taking Forward the Government's response to the Killian Pretty Review: Progress Report", published in July 2009. The closing date for comments on this document has recently passed. We are in the process of commissioning research to develop options based on the consultation responses and to test them through a series of pilot studies January-March 2010.
We propose to have a new indicator in place in time for the revision of the local authority performance framework, which will take effect from April 2011.
Patrick Mercer:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to Recommendation 5 of the Killian Pretty Review of the
planning application process of November 2008, how many councils in England and Wales have participated in the National Process Improvement project. [298382]
Mr. Ian Austin: Four local planning authorities took part in the NPFP 'Transformational Planning' pathfinder pilot. The participating authorities were:
East Riding of Yorkshire council
Hambleton district council
Leeds city council
London borough of Lewisham
The collated findings of the pilot are summarised in the report 'Transforming Local Planning Services: Using Business Process Techniques', which provides advice to help other local authorities use business process improvement techniques in their planning services. There was an initial programme of dissemination in December 2008.
In line with the Government's response to Recommendation 5 of Killian Pretty, the Planning Advisory Service has commenced the next stage of dissemination by developing the 'Managing Excellent Planning Services' package. This has been well received, but is at an early stage.
Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to Recommendation 2 of the Killian Pretty Review of the planning application process of November 2008, what measures have been put in place to ensure that local planning authorities adopt a more proportionate approach to information requirements for design and access statements. [298478]
Mr. Ian Austin: In July 2009 we published a consultation paper 'Streamlining Information Requirements for Planning Applications' setting out proposals in response to Recommendation 2 of the Killian Pretty Review.
The consultation document included two main changes in relation to design and access statements:
to simplify the requirements for all design and access statements; and
to reduce the range of applications that require a design and access statement
The consultation period ended on 23 October and we are now in the process of analysing responses. Subject to the outcome of our consideration of consultation responses, secondary legislation enacting these proposals is expected in April 2010.
Planning Permission: Appeals
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on how many occasions he and his predecessors have personally intervened to set a date for an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate in each of the last five years. [298977]
Mr. Ian Austin: There is no known instance where any Secretary of State has ever directly intervened in imposing a date for an appeal.
Planning Permission: Asbestos
Tim Farron:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his most recent estimate is of the number of planning
applications which have been approved in respect of sites previously contaminated with asbestos; and if he will make a statement. [299015]
Mr. Ian Austin: The number of planning applications which have been approved in respect of sites previously contaminated with asbestos is not available centrally.
Right to Buy Scheme
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many right to buy sales there were in (a) 1980, (b) 1985, (c) 1990, (d) 1995, (e) 2000 and (f) each of the last five years for which figures are available; and what total of capital receipts was received by local authorities in each such year. [299115]
Mr. Ian Austin: Figures showing the number of local authority right to buy sales are included in Live Table 670 on the CLG website, broken down by region and year, from 1980-81:
Figures on capital receipts from local authority right to buy sales are included in Live Table 643, from 1998-99. Figures on capital receipts are not available for earlier years:
Figures showing the number of registered social landlord (RSL) right to buy sales are included in Live Table 675 on the CLG website, broken down by region and year, from 1996-97. Figures on sales of RSL properties are not available for earlier years, and figures are not available showing total RSL capital receipts:
The local authority right to buy data are from quarterly P1B returns from local authorities to CLG.
The registered social landlord right to buy data are from Regulatory and Statistical Returns (RSR) from RSLs to the Tenant Services Authority (TSA).
Social Rented Housing
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the turnover rate of tenancies held from (a) registered social landlords and (b) local authorities in each of the last five years. [297691]
Mr. Ian Austin: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 18 May 2009, Official Report, column 1198W.
Local authority figures for 2008-09 are reported through the Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix, which will be published on 26 November, 2009.
Registered social landlord figures for 2008-09 are collected by the Tenant Services Authority, reported through the Regulatory Statistical Return. The following table gives turnover rates by region for stock owned by registered social landlords (RSLs) in 2008-09. This covers general needs households only.
| Number of general needs lettings as a percentage of general needs stock owned by registered social landlords, 2008-09, by region | |
| Region | Percentage |
| Notes: 1. Stock figures are reported as at 31 March. 2. Lettings are recorded over the period 1 April to 31 March. Source: Regulatory and Statistical Return, part O | |
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many transfers from one local authority area to another there have been by (a) registered social landlord and (b) local authority tenants in each year since 1997. [297823]
Mr. Ian Austin: Information on transfers across local authority boundaries are available from the Continuous Recording of Lettings system (CORE).
The number of lettings by registered social landlords to tenants transferring from a social housing dwelling in another local authority area are provided in Table 1.
| Table 1: Lettings to registered social landlord tenants transferring from a social housing dwelling in another local authority area, 1997-98 to 2008-09, England | |
| Number of lettings | |
| Notes: 1. Only registered social landlords with less than 250 stock are required to complete CORE. 2. Figures are reported from 1 April to 31 March.. 3. Mutual exchanges are not included. 4. Figures include lettings general needs and supported housing. Source: Continuous Recording of Lettings | |
The number of lettings by local authorities to tenants transferring from a social housing dwelling in another local authority area are provided in Table 2. Figures for previous years are not available for local authorities. 2008-09 figures will be available in December/January.
| Table 2: Lettings to local authority tenants transferring from a social housing dwelling in another local authority area, 2007-08, England | |
| Number of lettings | |
| 1. Figures are reported from 1 April to 31March. 2. Mutual exchanges are not included. 3. Figures include lettings general needs and supported housing. Source: Continuous Recording of Lettings, Cambridge weighted method 2007/08 | |
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for City of York of 4 November 2009, Official Report, column 1062W, on homelessness, on what date he expects to publish data on new lets for 2008-09; and if he will make a statement. [299182]
Mr. Ian Austin: Numbers of new lets are reported by local authorities annually, through the Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix (HSSA), covering the period 1 April to 31 March. Figures for 2008-09 will be published on 26 November 2009.
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