Greater London Authority Bill

I agree with that point, which dovetails with my own about early prior notification. I would not say that an environmental court is an idea whose time has come, because it has not—we are considering something else—but it should be borne in mind for the future. It would give third-party objections the right of appeal in the most serious cases in environmental terms, and the environment would have to be taken properly into account. I want to make two other brief points. I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Vauxhall that, in the main, section 106 money should go to areas in which development is taking place. However, getting section 106 money in the first place is an issue in itself. Given the push for affordable housing, approval for such housing could well be given at a local or mayoral level without the section 106 money that is so needed for the infrastructure being provided. I was not really convinced by the answer my hon. Friend the Minister gave from the Dispatch Box when I raised that point. She said that we had to balance affordable housing and infrastructure. We cannot have affordable housing without infrastructure; when that happens, developers just suck up the profits that should return to the community. We shall look closely at the guidelines my hon. Friend produces, but I impress on her the need to maximise the section 106 money and put it back into communities. My last point is about the London plan, which will be extremely important under the proposed arrangements. I know that it was put out for consultation, but it was done in a weak way. The consultation was not even as thorough as that for statutory district plans, yet the London plan will be of much greater importance. The consultation process for the plan should be strengthened and should include hearings on the most important issues both in London areas and in London as a whole. Londoners should have the chance to challenge aspects of the plan, perhaps before an independent judge of such matters—perhaps even an environmental judge. The plan will have greater importance as the measure progresses, and there may even be a case for making the plan statutory, so that such factors can be built into it. However, none of that should detract from the provision of the affordable housing that Londoners very much need and want to be facilitated.