asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what are his proposals for amending the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisement) Regulations 1984, in the light of the response to his Department's consultation paper issued last July.

Comments on the consultation paper were received from 33 representative organisations and a considerable number of individual firms with an interest in the Government's proposals. These comments have been thoroughly considered and I am arranging for a copy of the submissions to be placed in the Library of the House where the originators have given their consent.Many of the Government's proposals concerned administrative provisions to improve and simplify the practical operation of the present advertisement control regime and were generally welcomed. I propose to introduce these provisions into the Control of Advertisements Regulations in due course.Most interest centred on proposals for granting deemed consent for five additional categories of outdoor advertisements and for stricter limits on the deemed consent for the display of boards advertising the sale or letting of residential property.I intend to lay before Parliament as soon as possible regulations, under section 63 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1971, to amend the Control of Advertisements Regulations on the following lines:(1) to grant deemed consent for—