Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications and Deemed Applications) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2010

My Lords, I am grateful to both noble Lords for their support for these regulations. The noble Lord, Lord Bates, said it was good to see the Government put their hand up when an error had been made and to confirm that it was an error. I can confirm also for the noble Lord, Lord Lee, that it is not a change of policy that we are dealing with here. A number of amendments were made to the schedule to increase the cap; this one was included in error. We understand that not too many people have been affected by it in the interim, but obviously now is the first opportunity we have had to correct it and to put matters right. The noble Lord, Lord Bates, also acknowledged that we had a meaningful consultation and he is right to say that it changed our original proposals on the fee structure. He referred to the fact that this would lead to administrative and cost savings for business. He also mentioned the number of applications that have been progressed in recent years and asked for an update on that. I may be able to provide him with further information in writing but I understand that major applications are significantly lower and that there has been a 22 per cent fall in major applications in the past year. I think that his point was on applications progressing to action. Of course, a key component of the changes introduced last year, by giving the opportunity of extending planning permissions, is to help those planning applications that have stalled, perhaps because of the economic situation, and to get them back on track as quickly as possible, rather than having to go back to square one with an application process. Both noble Lords asked about the implication of changes in fee structure on local authorities. The principle is that the fees are pitched at a basis that should enable the local authorities to recover costs of dealing with this new form of applications. With regard to support for local authorities in general, I point out that for the year that we are just about to enter, 2010-11, there has been a 4 per cent increase in total grant to local authorities, which is now expected to be something like £76.2 billion. Over the first 10 years of this Government, government grants to local authorities have increased by something like 39 per cent in real terms. The loss of fee income will be a challenge to local authorities, but the Government have strongly supported local authorities throughout recent times, and particularly in the upcoming year. I hope that that has dealt with the points raised. I thank noble Lords for their support for these regulations. Motion agreed.