Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications and Deemed Applications) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2008

Listening to the Minister reminds me of what a vexed local question planning invariably is. There is no getting away from that. Equally, there is no getting away from the vexed problem that all local authorities have when dealing with their budgets in total, of which, for planning authorities, planning runs away with a considerable amount of cost. No one can object to the principle that the cost of planning ought largely to be borne by those who are undertaking development. It was good to hear that what you might call the household proposals are to be protected by a lower level of increase in fee. Having said that, a better way to protect them would be to take the very small applications out of the playing field altogether, and I know that in various places there are some moves in that direction. Apart from that, the proposals are not wholly unreasonable in the circumstances. I have no reason to oppose them, and the Minister can go away happy that this is a part of an updating of the financial situation that we do not have any difficulty with.