Member

Amendment 98, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Banner, proposes to ring-fence appeal fee income for the Planning Inspectorate. I have met the noble Lord to discuss this amendment. I am very grateful for his engagement generally on the Bill and appreciate the intention behind this as an enabling provision. I also understand his concerns about the ongoing pressures on the inspectorate. However, the introduction of appeal fees is a matter that the Government continue to keep under review. I agree with the noble Lord that, if we did start charging for appeals, it would be important that those funds were used to support the delivery of the appeals service. Furthermore, we would expect the income from appeal fees to offset the departmental funding of the Planning Inspectorate. This income would be netted off against the inspectorate’s existing funding to relieve the burden on the taxpayer. For these reasons, we do not consider it necessary to ring-fence the income through primary legislation. I hope the noble Lord will not press his amendment.