Roberta Blackman-Woods
Main Page: Roberta Blackman-Woods (Labour - City of Durham)Growth and Infrastructure Bill
Roberta Blackman-Woods Excerpts(11 years, 4 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Roberta Blackman-Woods (City of Durham) (Lab)
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
Mr Speaker
With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:
New clause 6—Local powers to establish permitted development rights—
‘(1) Section 57 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 is amended as follows.
(2) In subsection (3) after second “order”, insert “issued by the local planning authority”.
(3) After subsection (3) insert—
“(3A) Where a local planning authority proposes to make an order under this section it shall first prepare—
(a) a draft of the order; and
(b) a statement of its reasons for making the order.
(3B) The statement of reasons shall contain—
(a) a description of the development which the order would permit; and
(b) a plan or statement identifying the land to which the order would relate.
(3C) Where a local planning authority has prepared a draft local development order, it shall consult, in accordance with regulations, persons whose interests it considers would be affected by the order.”.’.
New clause 7—Town and Country Planning Act 1990 pre-application case oversight—
‘Section 74 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (Directions etc. as to method of dealing with applications) is amended by the addition of the following paragraph at the end of subsection (1).
“(g) for requiring the local planning authority, in relation to a proposed application for planning permission for development of a type prescribed by the order, to oversee (including by the giving of advice and opinions) the preparations and consultation being made and carried out by the applicant in relation to the proposed application, requiring the applicant and any other person specified by the order to participate in the oversight arrangements made by the local planning authority, including by attendance at pre-application hearings conducted by or on behalf of the authority, and requiring the payment of fees by the applicant for the oversight arrangements for a maximum period to be set out in regulations.”.’.
New clause 8—Pre-application stage of major infrastructure regime—
‘Section 51 of the Planning Act 2008 (Advice for potential applicants and others) is amended by the addition at the end of the following subsection—
“(5) Regulations under subsection (3) may also make provision for the oversight (including the giving of advice and opinions) by a person appointed by the Secretary of State of the preparations being made by an applicant in relation to a proposed application and the applicant’s compliance with the provisions of this Part and those having effect under it, and in doing so the regulations may require the applicant and any other person to participate in the oversight arrangements made by the person appointed by the Secretary of State, including by attendance at case management conferences, and the payment of fees by the applicant and for a maximum period to be set out in regulations.”.’.
New clause 9—Consents under Electricity Act 1989: powers of the Welsh Ministers—
‘(1) The Electricity Act 1989 is amended as follows.
(2) After section 36C insert—
“36D Consents under section 36 relating to generating stations in Wales
In relation to generating stations in Wales, sections 36 to 36C and Schedule 8 (so far as it relates to sections 36 to 36C) have effect as if references to the Secretary of State were references to the Welsh Ministers.”.’.
New clause 11—Infrastructure requirement—
‘(1) Section 39 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (sustainable development) is amended as follows.
(2) After subsection (2) insert—
“(2A) The person or body must exercise the function with the objective of identifying that there is, or will be, sufficient infrastructure to support new development that is proposed in a development plan document, or in a subsequent revision to a development plan document.”.
(3) In subsection (3) omit “subsection (2)” and insert “subsections (2) and (2A)”.
(4) After subsection (3) insert—
“(4) In this section ‘infrastructure’ has the same meaning as in section 216 of the Planning Act 2008.”.’.
New clause 12—Cumulative effects of development consents on climate change—
‘(1) The Planning Act 2008 is amended as follows.
(2) After section 13 (legal challenges relating to national policy statements) insert—
“13A Cumulative effects
(1) The Secretary of State shall publish on 6 April each year a report setting out the cumulative effect of development consents granted under this Act on the mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change.
(2) A statement designated under section 5 must contain a statement to the effect that it is the Secretary of State’s view that the requirement of subsection (1) is ratified.”.’.
(3) In section 105 (decisions in cases where no national policy statement has effect), after subsection (2)(b), insert—
“(ba) the cumulative effect of development consents on the mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change set out in the report published by the Secretary of State under section 13A;”.
(4) In section 105, at the end add—
“(3) For the purposes of subsection (2)(ba), the reference to the report published by the Secretary of State under section 13A means the last report published under that section.”.’.
Amendment 42, page 1, line 2, leave out clause 1.
Government amendment 5.
Amendment 43, page 36, line 2, leave out schedule 1.
Amendment 49, in clause 8, page 10, line 31, leave out
‘economic growth in the United Kingdom’
and insert
‘sustainable development and economic growth in the United Kingdom through the Government’s broadband programme.’.
Government amendment 6.
Government new clause 3—Variation and replacement of pre-Planning Act 2008 consents.
Government amendments 7 to 21, 33 and 34.
Roberta Blackman-Woods
The Minister will know that some time was spent in Committee debating the true purpose of clause 1 and its inherent anti-localist, centralising agenda. We sought to test whether the Government had intended to produce a clause that would enable major planning discussions and decisions in designated authorities to be taken by the Secretary of State—usually by the Planning Inspectorate on his behalf—thus significantly reducing the influence that local people have on planning decisions affecting their area. Astonishingly, that did seem to be their intention. Their love affair with localism seems to have been short-lived.
A second major issue in Committee was the nature of the designation itself, whether the criteria to be used were fair and whether the Government should be going down the route of designation at all. If their purpose is really to improve decision making in local authorities, that does not appear to be the appropriate or sensible route.
We were somewhat hampered by the fact that the consultation document relating to the designation of failing planning authorities appeared only a very short time—in fact, less than an hour—before the Committee commenced discussion of clause 1. Since then, we have had the opportunity to consider the document in more detail. Unfortunately, the consultation document does not make happy reading, and I feel that I need to urge local authorities and others to respond to it by 17 January.
An authority’s track record of speed is to be measured over a two-year period, based on the percentage of major applications determined within statutory limits, and quality is to be measured by the percentage of decisions on major applications that are overturned on appeal. Both criteria have their problems, but overall the approach seems to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut. As we know, application of the first will draw in only a handful of authorities—even then, we are not sure how many—and the second none at all.
The Minister knows there is no evidence base for the measures in the clause, and they could put additional pressures on local authorities to agree to applications that, on balance, they might have refused. We know that is the case because of what happened in Committee. The Minister was given alternative criteria for designation that were much more in line with the localist agenda, such as being designated for failure to make decisions in line with the local plan. Unsurprisingly, he refused to accept the amendment.
As we heard in Committee, however, it is much worse than that. The Government are consulting on criteria, but the clause allows the Secretary of State to alter them, seemingly on a whim. The Minister was vague in Committee on whether changes would occur only after a period of consultation, and I hope he will be able to give us more clarification today. The power-grabbing tendencies of the Secretary of State, as endorsed by the clause, were also a continual theme of our deliberations. At no stage have improvements been made, despite the Minister being given numerous opportunities to do so through our amendments, and that should be regretted.
I ask the House to excuse me, as I have a terrible cold.
Mr James Gray (North Wiltshire) (Con)
I am sorry to interrupt the hon. Lady’s flow to pick her up on a minute, but nevertheless important, point for those of us who love the English language. She will no doubt respond that this is purely a drafting error, but new clause 5 states:
“The purpose of the planning system is to positively promote the long term”.
In other words, there is a split infinitive written into her new clause. Does she approve of that, or would she like to change it on reflection?
Roberta Blackman-Woods
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, not least because he has enabled me to have a coughing fit. I hope he agrees that the matters before us are much more serious than a split infinitive.
Mr John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con)
On a more serious matter, new clause 5 states that planning should create sustainable development, and that “sustaining” means
“the potential of future generations to meet their own needs by respecting environmental limits.”
Does the hon. Lady think there is a limit to how many people England can accommodate, and does she think her Government exceeded that limit?
Roberta Blackman-Woods
The right hon. Gentleman makes an interesting intervention, but I will not be distracted and will talk about that issue, because we have a serious matter in front of us—the measures contained in clause 1.
As I was saying, despite the Minister being given a number of opportunities to improve the clause in Committee, alas he did not take any of them on board. That was a pity, because our amendments sought to make the designation system more transparent and more accountable than just relying on the thoughts of the Secretary of State. As we know from Communities and Local Government questions earlier, those thoughts can at times be a bit alarming. He was telling us today that green is brown and brown is green, and he has often told us that down is up and up is down, so I am not at all sure where the Secretary of State’s thoughts on the clause would lead us. We are saying that we need to define what requiring local authorities “to do things” could possibly mean. I will not rehearse our long and interesting discussion in Committee about what that could mean, but it is truly extraordinary that we are being asked to adopt legislation allowing the Secretary of State “to do things” that are as yet ill-defined.
I raise those points to demonstrate the need for amendments 42 and 43, which would remove clause 1 and schedule 1 respectively. The Opposition consider this an extremely important matter, and, if possible, unless the Minister provides reassurances that have not yet been forthcoming, we will, at the appropriate point, seek to divide the House on amendment 42. We are totally against local authorities being designated as failing in the way he suggests and we do not believe that it will improve the performance of local planning authorities. Instead, it is very likely to lead to inappropriate development, as the Town and Country Planning Association said so powerfully in its evidence. It also pointed out—he needs to take this on board—that it could lead to a breakdown in trust in the planning system. As the consultation paper looks to be seeking to rubber-stamp the criteria put forward for designation and as the Government have made no effort to improve the clause to make designation and its operation more democratic, we had no alternative but to table an amendment to remove this thoroughly bad clause.
New clause 5 would provide an alternative approach to planning that we think the planning Minister needs to adopt as soon as possible. It would include in the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 a definition of the purpose of planning. As hon. Members have pointed out, it is important to change the whole debate about planning. Instead of being presented simply as a brake on growth or somehow preventing growth, we want planning to be used to develop sustainable communities. The new clause would set out the need for planning policy to
“positively identify suitable land for development in line with the economic, social and environmental objectives so as to improve the quality of life, wellbeing and health of people and communities”.
Mr Redwood
I would be grateful if the hon. Lady could explain who would judge civic beauty, which I understand is an important criterion in her proposed system.
Roberta Blackman-Woods
The right hon. Gentleman raises an interesting point. It might be helpful if we discussed how to judge what is beautiful in civic terms. I will happily engage with the Minister on how we might set up such a system. We could have citizens’ panels and they could get advice from relevant bodies around the country. If the Minister were to adopt the new clause and discuss with us how the measures in it could be delivered, it would be a helpful and constructive way forward, so I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his intervention.
As I was saying, we think that the system should look at
“the quality of life, wellbeing and health of people and communities... contribute to sustainable economic development…protect and enhance the natural and historic environment and quality of existing communities and the countryside…ensure long term sustainable patterns of resource use”
and, as I said and as the right hon. Gentleman just highlighted, it should
“positively promote civic beauty through high quality and inclusive design; and…ensure the planning system is open, transparent, participative and accountable.”
None of that, however, has been taken on board by the Minister. In fact, in their rush and desperation to be seen to be doing something to produce growth, the Government have forgotten the real purpose of planning. Planning is a tool for people to shape places positively and for communities to ensure that they have homes for their children and developments that are beneficial to them and the economy. The Government seem determined to characterise planning solely as an obstacle to growth—clearly an attempt to disguise the fact that their policies are the real brake on growth and what we should be resisting.
Mr Crispin Blunt (Reigate) (Con)
Will the hon. Lady tell the House what preliminary view she has taken of new clause 11, tabled by my right hon. Friend the Member for Arundel and South Downs (Nick Herbert), and whether she is broadly sympathetic to it? I realise that she has not yet had a chance to hear my right hon. Friend’s arguments, but is she open to the proposals in the new clause?
Roberta Blackman-Woods
I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention, and I will deal with that point in just a moment.
I was talking about the wide range of infrastructure that could be allowed to develop in areas of outstanding natural beauty, in our national parks and in conservation areas, if clause 8 were not amended. Many Members on both sides of the House would be gravely concerned if broadband masts, wires and cabinets—let alone any other communications equipment—were suddenly allowed to spring up all over our national parks, and the Government have not yet given sufficient reassurance on the issue. We have no idea how local authorities would be able to oppose inappropriate siting of overhead cables or broadband cabinets if they had to make economic development their overriding criterion. I have made it clear that we are not against the roll-out of broadband; we just think that the clause is incorrectly worded at present.
The Minister claimed in Committee that it was not possible to specify broadband in the Bill owing to European legislation. I asked him at the time to point to the precise area of European legislation that prevents the Government from specifying it in that way, but I am still waiting for that clarification. I hope that he will be able to answer the question today.
Some groups, including the Campaign to Protect Rural England, have called for clause 8 to be deleted in its entirety, not least because it would set a worrying precedent in legislation. It seems to propose the scrapping of the special and rightful protection that is offered to our national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty, and to allow telecoms companies to install cabinets and masts in a free-for-all without securing permission from the relevant local authority. That would be unacceptable, and I hope that the Minister will take on board our concerns and those of the many organisations that have written to us about the proposal. I hope that he will give us an idea of how he intends to limit the impact of the clause on those beautiful areas, because we do not believe that it strikes the right balance at the moment.
The hon. Member for Reigate (Mr Blunt) asked me about new clause 11. I have looked at the proposal in some detail, and it makes a number of interesting points, but we feel that they are already dealt with in the planning system. Indeed, the hon. Gentleman might like to have a word with the Minister responsible for planning about how he will ensure that the national planning policy framework addresses the issue of planning policy shaping communities. I would say that our new clause 5 does a better job, because asking for such a positive view of planning and using it to shape our communities would mean that, in addition to looking at the need for new housing, we would look at the need for schools, jobs, a proper roads network for public transport, and so forth. It therefore seems to me that our new clause 5 positively supports new clause 11. I shall leave my comments there for the moment.
Mr Redwood
The Government are right to be concerned about the poor volume of house building that they inherited and that has continued for the past two and a bit years. It is right that they need to facilitate more development of more or less any kind. It will, by definition, be affordable because people will now build houses only if they can see a purchaser or tenant with reasonable security.
I have difficulty with the amendments proposed by the right hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich (Mr Raynsford). He and I would probably agree that we need more affordable housing of all kinds in this country. The biggest shortage is probably in affordable housing for sale. A large number of people would like to own their own home. It is one of the tragedies of the current situation that people in their 20s and quite a lot of people in their 30s are no longer able to obtain a large enough mortgage to afford the prices of homes in many parts of the country. We therefore have a new generation of people who do not have the access to home ownership that previous generations have enjoyed and taken advantage of.
That has come about because of a mighty land and property price bubble, generated primarily by the mortgage excesses of the previous decade and, to a lesser extent, by the capitalisation of the subsidies that the Government tipped into the housing sector to try to keep pace with the inflationary bubble that the banking and monetary policy was creating. We are using public money to chase a bubble, which makes it very difficult to get affordable housing to people. The public money then does not go around as far as it should, because land and property prices are so high.
How are we going to break into that conundrum? The Government are trying many things. They are trying to get a freer flow of mortgage money and cash to people at cheap prices, so that they can afford more. They are also working on the supply side to try to puncture the land bubble at a sensible rate, so that all homes become more affordable.
The danger with concentrating on so-called affordable homes for rent in the public sector is that, as the right hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich says, there is a big lottery element to it. If one was born in the right village or has lived in the right village for long enough, one might qualify for such property, but if one has moved around too much or has lived in a different village, there is no such opportunity. The lottery element is one problem with what the right hon. Gentleman is suggesting.
The right hon. Gentleman said that affordable homes would always be available, but of course they will not, because they will mainly be lived in by the people who first get them. Those people might decide to live in them for 20, 30, 40 or 50 years, so they will not be available to anybody else because they will be providing family accommodation to those people. We might say that that is fine, because that is the purpose of such homes, but they cannot both fulfil the intended role for the family who are lucky enough to get them and be available to a family that does not have them.
That leads to a distributional problem, because if somebody who takes on a heavily subsidised affordable rented house becomes very successful, we rightly do not tell them that they have to leave. That means that someone quite rich and successful can be living in a heavily subsidised house, which does not seem fair. It is better to move to a system of subsidising people rather than properties, by giving them income support and the means to achieve what they need—a house to buy, a flat to rent or whatever. It is subsidising property that has got us into all these awful arguments, and it is sending the wrong signals and drying up the market in all sorts of ways. There are not enough affordable properties, and an awful lot of developers are being put off.
I hope that the Minister will build on the ideas that are currently in circulation to allow some development to take place, and that he will not allow previous plans from better financial times to prevent that development. I hope he will consider the two important points that I have made—that it is surely better to subsidise people in need than particular homes, which can lead to the maldistribution of results both geographically and by individual; and that it is surely better to work on the land market, because it must be our ultimate aim to have a land market at prices that people can afford. Thanks to the mortgage and subsidy boom of the previous decade we are a long way from that, with the result that many of our constituents cannot access the housing that they need and would like.
Roberta Blackman-Woods
I wish to speak to amendments 45 to 48. Clause 6 greatly exercised us in Committee because of the threat that it presents to the future supply of affordable housing delivered through the application of section 106 agreements. No evidence has been provided in Committee or elsewhere of the necessity of the clause or of why section 106 agreements, as they relate to affordable housing, should be singled out for such treatment. Ministers and other Government Members seemed blasé about what the clause could mean for the development of housing, and particularly about the need to create communities that are both balanced and mixed.
I want to make it clear from the outset that we dislike clause 6 very much indeed, and that in tabling our amendments we have sought to curtail its worst excesses. The Minister was not able to provide an evidence base for it, a point noted by many witnesses, such as the National Housing Federation, which stated that
“no evidence has been provided to suggest that Section 106 generally, and its affordable housing component specifically, are routinely stalling developments.”
The Minister has not explained why the clause is necessary given that local authorities are already renegotiating section 106 agreements. The Local Government Association has emphasised that point, and as I have already pointed out to the Minister, the LGA is currently—I stress that word to my hon. Friends—under the control of the Conservative party. It stated that it believed the whole of clause 6 to be
“unnecessary because councils are already responding to changed economic circumstances by renegotiating Section 106…agreements voluntarily.”
Case studies exist from a range of councils, including Cheshire West and Chester, Exeter and Haringey. Given the relatively short time available I will not go into them in much detail, but it is worth pointing out that Cheshire West and Chester council has already renegotiated the section 106 agreement for Winnington urban village, and that Exeter city council has done the same for a series of new developments. There are a lot of examples of that across the country, and I am happy to pass the information on to the Minister if necessary.
Simon Hughes (Bermondsey and Old Southwark) (LD)
Does the hon. Lady accept that there is a problem with the current system? My local authority is run by the Labour party and has done a deal with the biggest developer on the estate near the Elephant and Castle, reducing the agreed planning percentage of affordable housing from 35% to 25%. When I asked, on behalf of those I represent, to see the paperwork justifying the viability of that, the council and the developer said no.
Roberta Blackman-Woods
The right hon. Gentleman makes an interesting point, and I hope that he will persuade Ministers to accept our amendment 44, on how viability is measured. It would require more precise guidance to be given to local authorities of whatever political shade so that they know how they should assess viability. Voluntary agreements, which usually mean negotiating section 106 requirements downwards, are occurring across the country, so we and local councils need a better understanding of what is meant by viability in that context.
We know from the evidence provided by the LGA that on average councils are willing to accept a level of affordable housing about a third lower than the amount set in their local plan. We also know that all but 2% of councils have said that they would be willing to renegotiate section 106 agreements. There is therefore a big question about the need to include clause 6 at all.
It may help the House to understand the full nature of what is wrong with the clause if I briefly go through each amendment and its purpose. Amendment 45 would require a local authority to establish first of all that it is the application of a section 106 housing agreement that is making a development unviable. As we pointed out in Committee, such an amendment would place a sensible requirement on local authorities to establish that it is the section 106 agreement for affordable housing that means that a development cannot go ahead as planned. It would also allow other types of obligation, such as highways contributions, to be put forward to the local authority for renegotiation as part of current section 106 arrangements. Developers can already ask a local authority for a renegotiation of section 106 agreements, so we simply cannot understand why the Government would not want to accept such a basic, common-sense amendment.
The LGA has continued to press that point, stating that it does not understand why the clause addresses only affordable housing when section 106 agreements also fund other forms of infrastructure. It has asked why social housing is deemed dispensable, especially since the current lack of funding has had a particular impact on the delivery of affordable housing, which is greatly needed.
After the May 2010 election, the Government cut the budget for new affordable homes by 60%. Labour invested £8.4 billion in the three years between 2008 and 2011, whereas the current Government will invest just over half of that amount in the four years between 2011 and 2015. At the same time, funding for existing affordable homes has fallen. As a consequence, shockingly, 37% of affordable homes do not meet the decent homes standard. I say to Ministers in passing that when we discussed the matter in Committee, no mention was made of the huge amount of money that went into upholding that standard under the previous Government. Of course, that kept a number of affordable houses in occupation.
We know that private rents are soaring. They hit a record high over the summer and are even higher at the moment. The number of homelessness acceptances is increasing, and over the past year rough sleeping has risen by about 23%. Affordable housing is therefore more necessary than ever, which is why the clause is so dangerous.
The Minister should note that the Local Government Association supports amendment 44. It asks the Minister to set out in regulations the criteria by which viability is to be assessed, and to consult relevant organisations before doing so—the issue raised by the right hon. Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Simon Hughes). The LGA states that the clause encourages have-a-go behaviour for developers, because it offers no reason for them not to try to seek a reduction in their affordable housing obligations from the Planning Inspectorate. The LGA has said that the clause could delay house building and economic recovery as developers wait for the new regime to be put in place, while placing additional resources centrally with the inspectorate, rather than properly resourcing local planning authorities.
Roberta Blackman-Woods
I beg to move amendment 50, page 45, in schedule 4, leave out lines 21 to 27.
Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)
With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:
Amendment 51, page 45, leave out lines 38 to 47.
Amendment 52, page 46, leave out lines 27 to 34.
Roberta Blackman-Woods
In Committee, we discussed at length the process of registering town and village greens, and the value of such spaces. My hon. Friend the Member for Rochdale (Simon Danczuk) reminded the Minister of the speech by a previous Conservative Prime Minister, who spoke about warm beer, swallows overhead and cricket on the village green. We were led to think how odd it was, and how much coalition must have changed the Conservative party, that Opposition Members were having to protect precious town and village greens. Clearly, hon. Members on both sides have open spaces in their constituencies that they and their communities want to preserve. Unfortunately, it was made clear to the Committee that there are instances of vexatious applications for town and village green registration that are intended to stymie development, rather than to protect open space. Although such instances are relatively few in the grand scheme of things, they do delay much-needed development. That is why the Local Government Association and other organisations that, like us, want to encourage sustainable development are in favour of placing some limits on the registration of town and village greens, but we think that schedule 4, in particular, goes much too far along that road.
The Open Spaces Society has helpfully provided us with a long list of cherished greens that would not have been registered had the Bill been in place. I urge Members to think about land that might be lost if the schedule is passed unamended, before they vote in support of it. Some of the triggers in schedule 4 are reasonable. For instance, trigger 6 states that, if a neighbourhood development plan identifies a piece of land for development, it cannot be registered. If a neighbourhood plan is in place, it will have been drawn up by residents, published, consulted on and agreed by local people, and land that they have democratically identified for development should be kept as such, but some of the triggers go too far, and it is these that the amendments would delete to ensure that local people can still protect land that is important to them.
John Howell (Henley) (Con)
The hon. Lady talked about warm beer, village greens and all that, but the sort of land we are talking about would not be wide enough even for a bowler to stand at one end.
Roberta Blackman-Woods
In the spirit of localism, I think it is up to local communities to decide what piece of land, no matter its size, is important to local people and not to take the hon. Gentleman’s word for it.
Martin Horwood (Cheltenham) (LD)
If the hon. Lady believes in localism, would she not encourage local communities to use the new local green space designation introduced in the national planning policy framework, which can be made use of at the time of plan-making and so is a more reliable route to protecting local valued green spaces than the village green process, which is a bit haphazard at the best of times?
Roberta Blackman-Woods
The hon. Gentleman makes an interesting point that was also made by the right hon. Member for Hazel Grove (Andrew Stunell) in Committee, but he ignores the fact that a number of communities have not yet been able to draw up a neighbourhood plan. We are terribly concerned—this is the reason for the amendments—to ensure that simply publishing a draft neighbourhood plan does not mean that a village green cannot be registered. That is really important. We asked the Minister to think about delaying the operation of the triggers to enable all communities to develop neighbourhood plans, but sadly I was disappointed once again by his response.
Andrew Stunell
I thank the hon. Lady for giving way—I know that time is short—but I draw her attention to section 87 of the Localism Act 2011, which deals with lists of assets of community value and under which any village green candidate could be listed. That has nothing to do with neighbourhood plans. I also draw her attention to sections 76 to 79 of the national planning policy framework. I think she is going for overkill on this one.
Roberta Blackman-Woods
I am afraid that the Open Spaces Society simply does not agree with the right hon. Gentleman. It made it clear in its briefing to Members on Report:
“The government claims that people would know of the threats through the neighbourhood planning process, but this process is in its infancy and is not widespread. Those who use and enjoy their local open spaces are usually doing just that and are not necessarily clued up about, or involved in, the planning process, and they cannot be expected to know or realise that there is a potential threat to their rights. Moreover those who may be aware of the neighbourhood planning process may not be the same people enjoying the use of a particular piece of land and thus would not be in a position to know that such land is being used as of right.”
It seems odd to give communities the right to register village greens under the Localism Act and the neighbourhood planning process—rights that have not yet been firmly embedded in all communities—while in the Bill taking away rights to register village greens. We ask the Minister to think again.
Michael Fallon
The amendments are identical to those that were moved in Committee, and I explained then that they would weaken the Bill by bringing in trigger points far later in the planning process. The Government do not understand why that is needed and we think it undermines the ability of local authorities and neighbourhoods to contribute to their own plans. The amendments were misguided when they were moved in Committee and they are equally misguided this evening. If the hon. Member for City of Durham (Roberta Blackman-Woods) suggests pushing the amendment to a vote, I urge my hon. Friends to reject it—
Roberta Blackman-Woods
I, too, want to begin by thanking all Members who have contributed to the debate and by acknowledging all the hard work undertaken in Committee. In particular, I thank my fellow shadow Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh South (Ian Murray), for his highly effective dissection of key clauses. I also want to thank my right hon. Friend the Member for Greenwich and Woolwich (Mr Raynsford) and my hon. Friends the Members for Scunthorpe (Nic Dakin), for Rochdale (Simon Danczuk), for North Tyneside (Mrs Glindon) and for Sheffield Central (Paul Blomfield) for their excellent comments in Committee and today.
The best thing that I can say of the Ministers is that they have been extremely gracious in rejecting all my suggestions for improving the Bill. Let us be clear: the Bill will do little to promote growth or to encourage the delivery of infrastructure. As the shadow Secretary of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for Leeds Central (Hilary Benn), said in Committee, it is a “rag-bag of measures” put out in haste in September as one of a number of panic measures to suggest that the Government were doing something to address the flatlining economy. There are so many things wrong with the Bill that I simply do not know where to start, but I shall highlight some of the worst offenders.
As I have said, it has not proved possible to improve the Bill in Committee or on Report today, and that is a matter of regret. The centralising, anti-localist processes that underpin clause 1 are still there. Let us be clear: this will lead to local communities losing their ability to influence planning decisions that relate to their areas. The Conservative-controlled Local Government Association has stated that clause 1 could be “counter-productive”, as the proposed criteria for measuring performance—the time taken to make a decision on major applications and the proportion of major decisions overturned on appeal—will result in a focus on blunt targets, driving unintended consequences and behaviours.
The LGA goes on to say that the Bill goes against the localism agenda by shifting authority and resources away from local planning authorities and over to the Planning Inspectorate. I could not agree more. We said several times in Committee that if the Minister was serious about improving the performance of planning authorities, he should, instead of imposing the measures in clause 1, fund the kind of projects that were clearly outlined in our evidence sessions by the Royal Town Planning Institute, the Town and Country Planning Association and others. Such projects would provide intensive support to local planning authorities, and evidence has clearly shown that they can turn authorities around. The Campaign to Protect Rural England has also said that, although the Government say that they want to improve the performance of local councils on planning, the Bill’s approach will be counter-productive.
We have not yet said anything today about clause 5, or about the changing demands for information from local authorities when determining applications, but we must ensure that those authorities get the information that they need to make good determinations. Speed does not necessarily make for a better decision, and a lack of relevant information will simply hold up the determination process.
As we said earlier, the introduction of clause 6 is simply disgraceful when the country is so short of affordable housing. Figures make clear the desperate need for affordable housing clear. As we noted, there was a 9% increase in statutory homelessness between April and June this year, and a 23% increase in rough sleeping over the last year. It is simply outrageous that the Government should be bringing forward measures that seek to reduce the supply of affordable housing in this country. Any measure that would reduce the level of affordable housing, other than through sensible renegotiations being undertaken by local authorities, should be rejected by this House.
I hope that Members in the other place manage to persuade the Government of the error of their ways, as we have not managed to do so here. In particular, the Minister should give serious consideration to keeping land for affordable housing in place and using money allocated by the Government for affordable housing to enable schemes deemed unviable to go ahead. The Minister has refused to look at this today, but I hope he will look at it again. The failure to accept any of today’s amendments leads me to question the motive behind clause 6. It looks more and more like a device to let unscrupulous developers renege on their section 106 obligations.
The Bill also risks huge damage to our environment by giving inadequate protection to areas of outstanding natural beauty, national parks, conservation areas and so on. It is not acceptable to reduce the current protection by allowing economic criteria to be part of the determination. This could reduce the ability of local authorities to ask for sensitively sited cabinets, no overhead cables and the like.
Chris Ruane (Vale of Clwyd) (Lab)
I represent the Vale of Clwyd, which has an area of outstanding natural beauty. One of the chief people in charge of it, Howard Sutcliffe, asked me to relay to Parliament his concerns about this issue. We have a beautiful area in the Vale of Clwyd, and the laws proposed by the Tories will diminish it.
Roberta Blackman-Woods
My hon. Friend makes the point well. The Government have given absolutely no evidence in support of this case. We noted in Committee that BT had said a number of cabinets had been delayed, but what had led to that delay was not made clear. No evidence has been provided to show that it was because local authorities were not considering economic criteria; it was simply that they did not wish their areas to be ruined by the unsightly and inappropriate siting of broadband cabinets and overhead cables.
We need to limit clause 8 so that it covers broadband only. As I said earlier, we support broadband roll-out and did much in government to facilitate it, but this Bill does not have the balance right. It is playing fast and loose with our areas of outstanding natural beauty and our national parks, and it is putting at risk the development of tourism in some of those areas. As such, this could be a profoundly anti-growth measure when it comes to developing the tourist economy in a number of areas.
A range of organisations have made a number of points to the Government, so I hope they will take this issue away and look at it again. We need to take great care with our areas of outstanding natural beauty and national parks. I am sure Government Members do not wish to have these areas cluttered up with mobile masts, overhead cables and unsightly cabinets; I am sure they would want to think again in the interest of protecting our wonderful natural environment and developing tourism sensitively in those areas.
The balance is also not right with regard to the registration of village greens. Communities need time—we accept that the period could be short so that development is not held up—to register a green once it appears in a draft plan. We want to limit the trigger-happy tendencies of the Secretary of State, so clause 15 needs to be looked at again.
If the Government are serious about using major infrastructure projects to promote growth, they must do better than the measures in the Bill. Simply allowing developers to bypass local communities in decision making will not necessarily lead to new development. We need to establish that the Planning Inspectorate system will be quicker, that there will be criteria enabling it to speed up work, and that it can be applied consistently across the country.
Business needs access to finance and markets need to grow, but strangely there is no mention of that in the Bill. Tinkering around with planning is not the solution to the need for more infrastructure or economic growth. The Town and Country Planning Association has said that the Bill
“has the potential to undermining public legitimacy without dealing with core barriers to growth which are primarily the availability of credit (both development finance and mortgage availability) and the capacity and skills of the planning service.”
That is an excellent point, but the Government have not raised such issues in the Bill or in the discussions that have accompanied it.
The Government have also given no reason for the delay in business rate revaluation. They must provide evidence of winners and losers, because otherwise it will be suspected that the Bill was designed simply to help businesses in more prosperous areas.
Asking workers to give up substantial employment rights won over many decades in return for a few shares is simply deplorable. Despite the amendments that we have discussed today, the Bill could lead to pressure on employees to sign up. In Committee and again today, the Minister has shown no real understanding of the lengths to which people will go to save or retain their jobs, or to apply for jobs. He needs to take that on board.
During our debate on clause 25, a number of Members on both sides of the House gave examples—real examples from their constituencies—illustrating our concern about the clause. We fear that, rather than being voluntary, the arrangement that it proposes will cause many people to be persuaded to take up this new employment status—perhaps against their short-term or long-term interests—and to give away rights which, as I said earlier, have been fought for over generations, in return for a few shares. Incidentally, the shares will not necessarily have been valued. The Minister has still not made clear what will happen to them, or, indeed, to the employment rights of the people who have bought them, should the company go into liquidation.
I listened carefully to what the Minister said about amendment 59, but I heard nothing that allayed my concerns. Indeed, I heard quite the opposite. The Minister was asked to give a categorical assurance that people seeking employment through a jobcentre who refused to attend an interview because the job would require them to take up employee shares would be entitled to refuse to attend without a sanction being applied to their benefits. The Minister told us this would be assessed on a case-by-case basis. That means there must be a set of circumstances in which an individual who refuses to attend an interview for a position that will lead to their being an employee share owner will have their benefit removed.
Chris Ruane
The Minister did, indeed, say it would be judged on a case-by-case basis. He also said there would be guidelines. Does my hon. Friend know whether they have been published, and whether we can have a look at them?
Roberta Blackman-Woods
My hon. Friend makes an interesting point that I will address later. At the last count, the number of consultations underpinning this Bill had risen to four—or perhaps five—and we have had at least six sets of guidance. As far as I am aware, however, the final guidance has not yet been produced. We will wait to hear what the Minister has to say on that.
Michael Fallon
I have said that we will provide fresh guidance to decision makers to help them make consistent decisions. The current guidance is referred to as the decision makers guide. We will consult all the key stakeholders involved to make sure the new guidance properly reflects the position I have outlined and the reassurances I have given.
Roberta Blackman-Woods
I heard what the Minister said about the guidance, but Opposition Members are looking for a categorical assurance that people who refuse to attend an interview for a job that will lead to their having to give up all their employment rights will not have their benefits stopped as a consequence. That requires a yes or no answer. If the Minister wants to make it clear that the answer is no, I will happily take an intervention from him now. As he does not rise, I think we can assume that no such assurance can be given. That shows why have so many grave concerns about clause 25.
We will certainly be voting against the Third Reading of this horrible, nasty little Bill that does little to promote growth, but risks employees’ rights and the protection of our environment, while also reducing the amount of affordable housing. The Wildlife Trusts’ comments are pertinent:
“Our primary concern is that the Bill perpetuates the myth that planning is responsible for holding back growth rather than focusing on the significant issues of financial restraint and borrowing difficulties. We believe that this approach to growth, risks putting our natural capital at risk and undermining future prosperity.”
I hope the Minister listens to the Wildlife Trusts, even if he will not listen to us. This Bill changes the basis on which planning applications are determined by breaking the trust with local communities, and thus we must vote against it.