Part of Ballot for Notices of Motions – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 14 April 1965.
These three Amendments seek to provide a procedure after an application has been made for an office development permit that would prevent unnecessary delays in the Government Department, to the serious detriment of the applicant. I assume that the Board of Trade intends to communicate its decision to the applicant, and the first part of the first Amendment is to ensure that we get the communication to the applicant.
How soon should that communication be? Surely, it should be within two months of the application being made, unless the applicant himself has failed to give sufficient information—and, as the Minister of State has said, there may be occasions on which the applicant has failed to give that information. But surely if he is then asked to supply that information he is not going to force the Board of Trade to deal with the application within two months or turn it down. It is entirely within the hands of the Board of Trade to turn down the application if the applicant endeavours to force the pace in that way when he has not provided sufficient information.
12 m.
Is it the intention of the Board of Trade, when communicating the results, to tell the applicant why it has come to its decision? I was anxious when the Minister of State said that in the case of I.D.C.s it is not the custom to give the reason for the decision.