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Lords amendment: No. 245, in page 146, leave out lines 23 to 29 and insert—
(5) A local planning authority may prepare a local plan for a part of their area (an "action area") which they have selected for the commencement during a prescribed period of comprehensive treatment, by development, redevelopment or improvement of the whole or part of the area selected, or partly by one method and partly by another; and a local plan prepared for such an action area shall indicate the nature of the treatment selected for the area.
§ Mr. TraceyI beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.
§ Mr. SpeakerWith this it will be convenient to take Lords amendments Nos. 246, 261 to 263 and 265.
§ Mr. Simon HughesWill the effect of amendment No. 245 be to allow local authorities, not merely to produce plans for the whole of that authority—this was altered in recent legislation—but to allow them to proceed with parts of their authority in turn, if they are not ready or do not wish to provide plans for the whole area? There used to be area or district statutory plans. That was changed and the change affected London boroughs which had to make only a borough-wide local plan. Will they be able to return to having plans covering areas smaller than the whole borough or district as a result of the proposal? What effect will the amendment have on borough or district councils?
§ Mr. TraceyThis is a drafting amendment and proposes the substitution in new section 11(5) of the 1971 legislation of a revised text, dealing with local plans for action areas. That is more faithful to the present provisions of the 1971 legislation. I hope that that answers the hon. Gentleman's point.
§ Mr. Simon HughesI hope that at some stage the Minister will elaborate on how the matter relates to other statutory planning functions of local authorities.
§ Mr. TraceyI shall be happy to write to the hon. Gentleman to clarify any of those points.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Lords amendments Nos. 246 to 321 agreed to.