HL Deb 11 May 2004 vol 661 cc160-5

3 Clause 1, page 1, line 11, at end insert— (3A) The RSS must include sub-regional plans for all parts of the region in accordance with geographical boundaries defined by the RPB. (3B) The sub-regional plans referred to in subsection (3A) shall be prepared by the authorities falling within section 4(1) if their area or any part of their area is in the defined sub-region.

The Commons disagree to this amendment for the following reason—

3A Because it is not appropriate to create more than one tier of regional spatial strategy.

The Lords insist on their Amendment No. 3 to which the Commons have disagreed, for the following reason—

3B Because regional spatial strategies should be based on the views of local communities.

The Commons insist on their disagreement to Lords Amendment No. 3, for the following reason—

3C Because it is not appropriate to create more than one tier of regional spatial strategy.

Lord Rooker

My Lords, I beg to move that the House do not insist on its Amendment No. 3, in respect of which the Commons have insisted on their disagreement for their reason numbered 3C, but do propose Amendments Nos. 3E to 3J to the Bill in lieu thereof—

3E Page 2, line 40, at end insert— () The advice mentioned in subsection (1) includes advice relating to the inclusion in the RSS of specific policies relating to any part of the region.

3F Page 3, line 33, at end insert— () the desirability of making different provision in relation to different parts of the region.

3G Page 3. line 388, at end insert— (4A) If the RPB decides to make different provision for different parts of the region the detailed proposals for such different provision must first be made by an authority which falls within section 4(2). (4B) But if the RPB and the authority agree, the detailed proposals may first be made— (a) by a district council which is not such an authority, or (b) by the RPB.

3H Page 6, line 11, leave out from "followed" to "section" in line 12 and insert "for the purposes of"

3IPage 6, line 42, after second "revision" insert— (a)

3J Page 6, line 42, at end insert— (b) of the RSS as it relates to any part of a region.

The noble Lord said: My Lords, I do not propose to dwell on Amendment No. 3 itself, other than to repeat, as I have said several times before, that it is not acceptable, because it imposes the burden, red tape and bureaucracy of blanket sub-regional planning, irrespective of whether it is needed or adds value to the planning system. A further problem is that it would require these plans to be drawn up exclusively by county councils and other authorities with strategic planning expertise, and so exclude others who may have an essential and valuable role to play, such as the district councils or regional development agencies.

I believe that our approach to sub-regional planning is the right one for our communities and our planning system. It is flexible and practical and does not impose an across-the-board, universal requirement for sub-regional frameworks, while it fully supports the involvement of sub-regional partners when there is a clear call for sub-regional planning. However, my right honourable friend Keith Hill said at the last stage in the other place that, given the concerns expressed on the matter, he was prepared to review the package.

We have therefore looked again at whether there is scope for further compromise consistent with our policy in order to make the arrangements work best on the ground. We have already discussed the statutory guarantee—which we have just agreed again—that at least 60 per cent of the members of each regional planning body will be members of local authorities. It must not be forgotten that we have given county councils and other authorities with strategic planning expertise a mandatory role in advising the regional planning body.

The amendments in lieu make it a duty that the regional planning body should consider whether it would be desirable to make different provisions in relation to different parts of the region as part of the regional spatial strategy. Therefore, the regional planning body would have to consider whether one or more sub-regional frameworks should be included as part of the regional spatial strategy. The amendments require the regional planning body to seek the advice of the counties and other authorities with strategic planning expertise on the desirability of making such provision. They require one or more of those authorities to take the lead in preparing the draft detailed policies for such a framework. Finally, the amendments provide that one or more district councils or the regional planning body may take the lead when the regional planning body and these other authorities agree.

The regulations to Part I will need to set out any necessary procedural detail. That might include, for example, clarifying that the sub-regional work would be to a brief set by the regional planning body. In further recognition of the expertise and service responsibilities of county councils, unitary authorities and national park authorities, we will also strengthen their role in the following three ways. First, we will amend planning policy statement 11 to provide that, on major issues of contention between the regional planning body and those authorities relevant to a matter being considered at the examination in public, the panel will ensure that that difference is examined. Secondly, we will amend planning policy statement 12 to make it clear that the county councils' advice should be sought and considered by the district councils in preparing local development documents, and development plan documents in particular, given the county councils' service responsibilities and expertise relevant to plan implementation. Thirdly, we will make it clear in PPS12 that district councils, in planning the preparation of local development documents, should have regard to the capacity of the county council and/or national park authority to provide prompt advice.

We have long recognised the sub-regional dimension to the regional spatial strategy and the role of authorities with strategic planning expertise in developing that dimension. This dimension will be strengthened in the following three ways. First, we will amend PPS11 to emphasise that although in some parts of a region local development documents should be capable of being prepared within the context of the generic policies of a regional spatial strategy, in other areas it will be necessary to have sub-regional frameworks as part of the strategy. That could be, for example, when important development or infrastructure proposals cross local authority boundaries. Secondly, we will also draw attention to the role of the regional planning body in identifying the need for joint local development documents when this will be helpful in implementing the regional spatial strategy.

The third way in which the dimension will be strengthened has escaped me, because I have turned over the page and come to the end of my speaking note. Something has gone wrong with my notes—I have only got two bullet points, but I said the following three ways. Because of the negotiations that have been going on, I have read this brief umpteen times, along with lots of other bits of paper. Whether I will be give another bullet point remains to be seen—and in fact I am being told that there are only two. In that case, we have improved the dimension in two rather than three ways.

What I have just said may sound to non-experts such as myself like a load of technical jargonese, although I have spelled out all the acronyms in full. It is part of a package, which goes along with the procedural agreement that the House approved earlier. With that agreement, I was offered the opportunity of recommending to the Deputy Prime Minister that he introduce a planning (no. 2) Bill, but I pointed out that we would have a bit of a job spelling out the Second Reading reasons for that. Therefore, we have had a look at this.

I shall be emollient and democratic; I am not at all annoyed; I am very happy. The noble Lord, Lord Hanningfield. has yet to speak, but I put on record that he has acted in good faith throughout the Bill. I have no problem with that whatever. He is a practical man whom I trust. I know he speaks for Essex, but he speaks for the county councils as well, so he will be held to account.

We have a successful conclusion to the Bill. Sensible people in local government will see the benefit of this legislation. The Bill will change—it is intended to change—the culture of planning in the country for the benefit of our fellow citizens. I do not want anyone to complain that there is no money because, although it is not part of the Bill, we have repeatedly reminded the House that the Government's planning delivery grant will shunt to local planning authorities £350 million over the current spending review.

As this is probably the last time when I shall be on my feet in relation to the Bill—I hope it is—on a personal note I thank my private office staff and the planning officials for their assistance over the past 18 months. The Bill was part of my day job when ODPM was formed in 2002. The only note of discord that I have—I have put this on record before—is that I hope—that the County Council Network will not thank me for my efforts, as I would not be able to take such a letter seriously. I beg to move.

Moved, That the House do not insist on its Amendment No. 3, in respect of which the Commons have insisted on their disagreement for their reason numbered 3C, but do propose Amendments Nos. 3E to 3J to the Bill in lieu thereof.—(Lord Rooker.)

4 p.m.

Lord Hanningfield

My Lords, as I have said, this legislation brings us to an extraordinary situation. For some months—I believe Second Reading took place before Christmas—my noble friend Lady Hanham and I have made various arguments. We do not like much of the Bill, but we took the view that if the Government wanted to pursue this legislation we should make it work. Most of the amendments put forward by us have been designed to make the Bill more bottom-up, and more democratic, than top-down.

As we said at the beginning, if we are not careful we shall have only one planner in this country, the Deputy Prime Minister. We feel that local people should be involved in planning processes. I am very grateful indeed for what the Minister has just said as it changes fundamentally the processes involved at the bottom level and results in many more local people being involved in the processes of developing planning in this country.

We accept that sub-regional planning strategies do not need to be universal. That was a recent sticking point as an original amendment of ours proposed that the strategies should be universal. We have accepted that some parts of the country do not need a detailed sub-regional planning strategy, and that planning can take place in different ways. Much of the country does need planning strategies.

I do not want to continue to quote the situation in my own county of Essex, where we have a new runway at Stansted, the M11 corridor, the Thames Gateway and the Haven Gateway—you name it. we have it—but as the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, has admitted previously, counties such as Essex need to be totally covered by sub-regional planning strategies. Yesterday, the noble Lord visited Essex to discuss issues with some of my colleagues.

I am pleased to have been able to achieve something with this Bill, even if through a procedural process. As I have said several times, the south-east of the country is the same size as Austria, which would not have just one planning policy; the planning policy that applied to Vienna would not apply to Salzburg,. We need to recognise that our very large regions—we do not support such large regions in the way that the Government do—need to be broken up and then developed. I believe that we have established that through the amendments. I am pleased that we have reached this stage and that some of the arguments that I have put forward throughout the passage of this legislation have now come to fruition. Due to the amendments, I believe that the planning system will work better.

In the Second Reading debate, noble Lords said that we should be proud of our planning system in this country and that we should be very wary of changing it. With this set of amendments which have been negotiated—they are still not perfect but they are much better than we have had before—the new planning policy can work and it can serve the people of this country. The system will be more bottom-up than top-down and we shall ensure that that happens. The Minister said that he did not want to get to his feet again, but I have one question for him. He mentioned the amount of money in the planning delivery grants. One assumes that that will follow the workload. The amendments may mean that the workload will fall to different authorities—the RDAs, the counties or the districts. Presumably the £350 million will follow the workload. I do not say that it should be designated. but it should follow the work.

Lord Rooker

Yes, my Lords, in some ways. The first two years' money has already been disbursed and we are now in the second year of the current spending round. I do riot know how much was allocated; there was something close to £200 million or certainly £150 million left for the third year. but it is a planning delivery grant; it is there to deliver a better planning system. As far as I am aware, the matrix for the third year has certainly not been agreed. Quite clearly, if matters have changed, one would expect a change in the way the matrix works. We were conscious of that in the first year's disbursement of the money. We shall have to take that on board. As I say, the money is paid after delivery of performance. The councils can do what they want with the money and to that extent it is not ring-fenced. Once the money is achieved, the council can use it in the way that it wants, but it has to deliver a better planning performance in terms of development control. The noble Lord's point is well made and I am sure it will be taken on board.

Baroness Hamwee

My Lords, I cannot resist intervening on the resources point. As the Minister says, the grant is for dealing with planning applications, and not strategic work. Throughout the passage of the Bill comments have been made about the strain on the different spheres of authorities with their different responsibilities. There is concern about coupling the pressure on resources and the loss of involvement in taking the lead in structure planning at county level—despite this set of amendments. We all need to be very alert to what that mix will mean in terms of staffing—staff being the most important resource of all.

Lord Hanningfield

My Lords, I thank the Minister for what he has said. He indicated that he would support the money going where the work is. Although the situation has been set out for the first two years, as regards future allocation, I hope that the money will follow the workload, as I believe the Minister indicated.

He also spoke of the redrafting of the guidance. In the discussions that have taken place over the past few days I have received assurances which I accept, and which he has restated today, that the guidance needs to be rewritten. The Minister is nodding his head. That has been part of the discussions, which are not necessarily germane to the debate today, but he indicated that in his introduction. We can now make the legislation work better than we could have done before, so we accept the amendments.

On Question, Motion agreed to.