Tesco has welcomed government changes to proposed planning rules which could speed up retailers' applications for building projects and cut development costs. Deputy pm John Prescott issued the White Paper, Modernising Company Law, in response to the Company Law Review published last year. Tesco also welcomed the decision to drop plans for a development tariff ­ which would require supermarkets building stores to pay for unrelated development schemes ­ and the provision of £350m to local government to improve planning department efficiency. Tesco group corporate affairs director Lucy Neville-Rolfe said: "We are pleased the government has listened to concerns over the proposed development tariff and decided not to proceed. "The tariff would have had the perverse effect of discouraging the right sort of development, including regeneration and renewal projects. "We also welcome £350m extra funding for planning and the government's determination to reduce delays in planning," added Neville-Rolfe. The money would partly be used to boost the numbers of staff handling planning applications. The British Retail Consortium also welcomed the scrapping of the development tariff. However, it said that without better recruitment, training and education of planning staff, and without clear planning targets, increased local government funding could achieve little. {{NEWS }}

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