asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what percentage of planning applications has gone to appeal in each year since 1979; and what percentage of these appeals has been successful in each year.

The information for England is as follows:

Year	Number of planning applications received	Appeals received as percentage of applications received in the year	Proportion of appeals decided which were allowed
		Per cent.	Per cent.
19791	—	—	29.1
1980	527,700	3·1	30·8
1981	450,400	3·7	32·7
1982	399,200	3·5	31·0
1983	428,200	3·2	32·4
1984	427,600	3·8	32·4
1985	430,800	4·0	37·4
19861	—	—	40·5
1 Full figures for applications received are not available for the calendar years 1979 and 1986.

Only about 2 per cent. of all planning permissions are given on appeal. Between 1983 and 1986 the proportion of planning applications refused by local planning authorities went up from 12·8 per cent. to 14·9 per cent.