Subterranean Development Bill [HL]

Baroness Gardner of Parkes Excerpts

Friday 10th February 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gardner of Parkes]

My Lords, we debated this on the Localism Bill, and since then we have had a number of meetings about the subject. One of the real problems is that at present, unless you are in a conservation area, a basement is permitted development and there is therefore no consultation or awareness among the neighbours of what is going to happen until it does, which can be very upsetting for people. I have been approached by huge numbers of people, all of whom are concerned about what is happening.

I take a slightly different view. I agree with my noble friend Lord Jenkin that you do not want to stop people making basements. If people need more space, they are not allowed to go up and perhaps the only way they can afford to expand their home for a growing family is to go down, so I am not opposed to people making basements. I do not need to declare an interest regarding my own house, because I think it probably cannot have a basement. However, in the adjoining streets of the area where I live, over 50 per cent of the people have already developed their basement or have permission to do so. It would be very wrong to say that the other 50 per cent could not do it, as why would some have been able to do it because they got in before the law changed and others not? The most essential thing is to have protection for people while this work is going on.

Some local authorities—I point out Kensington and Chelsea in particular—have excellent guidelines for anything that requires planning permission. You must have a structural engineer doing the plans and supervising the work. You must be sure that the neighbours are aware that the hours of work will be reasonable and that all sorts of conditions are attached, which works very well indeed provided you have to get planning permission. If on the other hand you can just go right ahead and do it, that makes rather a difference.

Financial protection is as important as physical protection. Again, near where I now live, someone dug a basement and then went bankrupt. It was a huge space; I think they spent three years digging it. The place just stayed there, as there was no money from anywhere to deal with the problem and no one had any right to deal with it. If proper party-wall agreements were included and one had to put up a bond or insurance of some type to cover someone being unable to complete the work, it would take a great deal of worry away from neighbours who feel that they might be faced with that situation.

A structural engineer spoke to me about this recently. He said that one point I should make, which I think is relevant, is that if an insurance policy is taken out, it is very important that all parties are party to the agreement. He explained a case he had had in which the builder had failed to comply with anything and was told that he must now claim on his insurance, but he said, “Oh no, I’m not claiming on my insurance. It is very much cheaper for me to go bankrupt. I can set up another £100 company and start again, whereas if I claim on that insurance I am going to lose my no-claim benefit. No, it does not suit me at all”. No party in that had an opportunity or right to claim for the financial compensation to deal with it, because the only party listed on the policy was the one man who did not wish to exercise that right. That is quite an important point.

People tell me that the most important thing of all is to have a construction management plan so that hours of work are established, there is consultation with locals and it can be established whether you need hand-digging in certain sensitive areas. My noble friend Lord Jenkin has given us horrendous tales; we have all read about them in the papers too. They are pretty terrible, but on the other hand there is controlled basement production. When we talk about it not yet being a national problem, that is for now, but as time goes by and land becomes scarcer and more people need more space, it will expand. It will not remain in this small area.

Someone mentioned subterranean development the first time the Secretary of State came to speak to us, and he did not even know what it was. He certainly knows now, because there has been such a lot of publicity about it, but he was quite surprised by the term. It was very limited in the first instance, but everyone now knows the position about basements and wants to see adequate protection, planning and supervision of the works. Anyone who wants to read more of my comments on this can look up the debates on the Localism Bill, because I know that we do not want to spend time on it this morning. I strongly support the Bill.