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15 Dec 2009 : Column 997W—continued

Planning

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many requests in each region he has received for planning applications to be called in (a) under an article 14 declaration and (b) under section 77 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 in each of the last 10 years; how many of those have been called in; and if he will make a statement. [307278]

15 Dec 2009 : Column 998W

Mr. Ian Austin: The following tables show, by region, the annual number of third party requests for planning applications to be called-in; the number of planning applications referred under section 77 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (TCPA); the number of applications called-in; and the number of article 14 directions issued. Figures before 2002 have been excluded due to potential data inaccuracies.

The power to call-in any planning application is provided solely by section 77 of the TCPA. An article 14 direction simply prevents a local planning authority from granting permission for a specific proposal.

South W est region
Number
	Third party requests	All referrals	Called-in	Article 14
2009	6	84	1	7
2008	8	82	5	8
2007	8	75	2	5
2006	33	132	13	11
2005	34	166	14	28
2004	20	184	14	24
2003	5	172	18	32
2002	8	146	7	18

South East region
Number
	Third party requests	All referrals	Called-in	Article 14
2009	21	128	3	4
2008	12	146	6	2
2007	20	171	8	10
2006	17	183	8	8
2005	17	211	18	35
2004	6	178	11	6
2003	19	252	20	40
2002	8	199	19	34

East region
Number
	Third party requests	All referrals	Called-in	Article 14
2009	15	65	5	4
2008	43	119	42	8
2007	0	77	5	9
2006	1	92	5	4
2005	1	124	6	21
2004	2	116	2	16
2003	3	169	6	29
2002	9	133	7	27

North East region
Number
	Third party requests	All referrals	Called-in	Article 14
2009	9	58	0	5
2008	15	62	2	4
2007	7	68	1	9
2006	14	69	9	4
2005	3	67	6	12
2004	0	68	3	13
2003	3	69	12	13
2002	4	73	5	10

15 Dec 2009 : Column 999W

London region
Number
	Third party requests	All referrals	Called-in	Article 14
2009	19	88	5	5
2008	18	90	7	7
2007	15	118	4	4
2006	21	111	6	14
2005	27	143	10	29
2004	20	141	11	19
2003	15	117	3	25
2002	24	126	14	30

West Midlands region
Number
	Third party requests	All referrals	Called-in	Article 14
2009	7	80	5	5
2008	3	74	7	7
2007	10	121	4	4
2006	15	117	6	14
2005	8	112	10	29
2004	19	138	11	19
2003	8	127	n j	25
2002	18	147	14	30

East Midlands region
Number
	Third party requests	All referrals	Called-in	Article 14
2009	5	46	3	5
2008	2	51	0	5
2007	1	59	1	1
2006	3	59	3	7
2005	4	58	5	10
2004	5	75	7	14
2003	8	76	8	9
2002	10	74	7	23

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