Sustainable Communities Bill

The right hon. Gentleman asks perhaps the most important question. The Government’s policy intention is to achieve that. I cannot give him an absolute guarantee because one would have to look at statutes right across the board, but we believe that our drafting reflects the policy objective. The great beauty of having parliamentary counsel is that they tell us how to meet in law our policy objectives. [Interruption.] That is what they do; the first parliamentary counsel is very clear about that. If, for example, there was something in highways law and we needed to change the legislation, we would obviously have to come to Parliament. The beauty of the Bill is that it provides the process by which that must happen. At the moment, local authorities and other local agencies have the frustration that there is no clear process for them to achieve their objectives. The Bill will make their ability to do that more effective. The hon. Member for Kettering has given us a really good example. In practice, the Highways Agency would come to the table at the local level and address the problem. Let me give the right hon. Gentleman another assurance. In law, the ““Secretary of State”” does not mean just the one Secretary of State; we are talking not just about the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, but about the Government, which includes the Department for Transport. The benefit of the process is that it not only brings a greater ability for local people to see that they can get their will done, but improves the way in which we govern. That is what we are attempting to achieve. I think that I have convinced the right hon. Gentleman on two out of three points. He and the Bill’s promoter are sceptical on the third point but, on balance, I hope that they will accept my argument.