Sustainable Communities Bill

The analysis must be right before that issue can be addressed. The hon. Lady described the process in her constituency, and I have heard similar comments on many occasions. However, what is the answer to the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Denton and Reddish about his swimming pool? I do not say that because Stockport council is run by the Liberal Democrats. However, in every area in the county, strong arguments are always made—most forcefully when it comes to planning decisions—and councillors have to reconcile differences. There has been a tendency in this country to make local authorities bigger. The urban district councils were abolished in 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, but that did not coincide with the strengthening of the third tier—the local tier—of representation: parish, town, neighbourhood and community councils. We must ensure that strengthening if we are to address the frustrations to which the hon. Member for Falmouth and Camborne (Julia Goldsworthy) referred in her speech and her interventions, but in doing so, all of us should be honest about the fact that localism and devolution do not of themselves increase resources. Nor do they take away the right of national Governments—and this House, through its role in holding the Executive to account—to determine what the national priorities should be. It is that debate that led to the creation of the national health service.