Mr R Summers Environmental Protection London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames Civic Centre 44 York Street Twickenham TW1 3BZ

Planning Casework North, South & West 9th Floor

Tel: 020 7217 3113 Fax: 020 7217 3471

e- mail: aturner. gol@ goregions. gsi. gov. uk

website: www. go- london. gov. uk

21 December 2001

Dear Mr Summers

TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ACT 1990 TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING (DEVELOPMENT PLANS AND CONSULTATION) DIRECTION 1999 MILL FARM SITE, HANWORTH, LONDON BOROUGH OF RICHMOND UPON THAMES

1. I refer to your letter of 7 December 2001 referring to the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions under the Town and Country Planning (Development Plans and Consultation) Directions 1999 an application for planning permission for the construction of 77 dwellings and associated car parking and cycle storage.

2. As you may know, the Secretary of State’s general approach is not to interfere with the jurisdiction of local planning authorities unless it is necessary to do so. Parliament has entrusted them with responsibility for day- to- day planning control in their areas. Local planning authorities are normally best placed to make decisions relating to their areas and it is right that in general, they should be free to carry out their duties responsibly, with the minimum of interference.

3. There will be occasions, however, when the Secretary of State may consider it necessary to call in a planning application to determine himself instead of leaving it to the local planning authority. His policy is to be very selective about calling in planning applications. He will, in general, only take this step if planning issues of more than local importance are involved and if those issues need to be decided by the Secretary of State rather than at a local level. Each case is, however, considered on its own facts.

4. The Secretary of State has considered all the matters put to him about this application. Bearing in mind that the issue before him for decision is not whether the application should be granted planning permission but whether or not he should call it in for his own determination, the Secretary of State considers that the following are the main matters relevant to his decision:

(i) Policies for affordable housing (PPG3 ‘Housing’ and Circular 6/ 98 ‘Planning and Affordable Housing’);

(ii) transport and accessibility (PPG 13 ‘Transport’); (iii) the relevant provisions of the Unitary Development Plan

5. After careful consideration of all the matters put to him about this application and having regard to his policy on call in 1 , the Secretary of State has concluded that that there is not sufficient conflict in this case with national planning policies on the above matters, or any other sufficient reason, to warrant calling in the application for his own determination. He has therefore decided that he should leave the decision on whether or not to grant planning permission in this case to the local planning authority.

6. In considering whether to exercise his discretion to call in this application, the Secretary of State has not considered the matter of whether this application is EIA Development for the purposes of the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (England and Wales) Regulations 1999. The local planning authority responsible for determining this application remains the relevant authority responsible for considering whether these Regulations apply to this proposed development and, if so, for ensuring that the requirements of the Regulations are complied with.

7. A copy of the permission that may be granted by the Council for the development should be sent to the Secretary of State at the above address in accordance with paragraph 6 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Plans and Consultation)( Departures) Direction1999.

Yours sincerely

Mide Beaumont

1 The Secretary of State’s policy on call in is set out in a Parliamentary reply to Bill Michie, 16 June 1999 and a copy is attached.