Greater London Authority Bill

My Lords, I entirely agree with the sentiment expressed by both noble Baronesses. Gardens are extremely important. The Government certainly think so, as does the Mayor for the reasons which the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, has just set out. There is nothing between us on that. The context, as we heard earlier, is the pressure for new housing in London. We all agree that it is important to ensure that development is in the right place, and that includes preventing inappropriate development in residential areas and on gardens where it is not sustainable and other sites are available. I think that the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, was coming to the conclusion that it is unnecessary to place a specific duty on the Mayor to have special regard to the desirability of preserving gardens and urban green space because local authorities have all the powers they need—they have had them for many years—to stop or prevent infill development on gardens. There has been an argument both in this House and the other place about whether gardens have become more vulnerable because of the emphasis on brownfield sites. We have certainly put an emphasis on the use of brownfield land, and I do not apologise for that. However, the issue is not whether land is classified as brownfield or greenfield but whether land is suitable for development, how sites are managed for development and what is appropriate in the local context. Existing national policy guidance already gives local authorities flexibility to shape development in their areas. For many years, they have been able—as the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, indicated—to set out particular policies in their development plan to manage infill development and protect gardens if appropriate. Many local authorities have done so. Those can then be applied to individual planning applications taking account of the specific circumstances. I say to London Boroughs that there is nothing to stop any London borough from doing that. The noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, asked about PPS 3. This is a good opportunity to say that not only have we not weakened the position of gardens in terms of development, we have strengthened the protection afforded to gardens and open space in planning policy statement 3, which we published last year. We have done so by giving local authorities more flexibility to shape new development according to the needs of their area, allowing them to make the decisions on where new housing should be located and making it clear that local authorities can put strong emphasis on protecting urban green spaces, parks and play areas. They can specify targets for different kinds of brownfield land, enabling them to distinguish between residential sites and others kinds of brownfield land. We have given them greater powers to restrict garden development if they have alternative viable land available and if the level of development they are achieving within residential areas is much higher than their plan requires. As long as they are delivering the level of new homes that the area needs, they will have more flexibility on how and where those homes should be built. That is all being placed in a context where far stronger emphasis is put on the quality of residential design and layout, which are absolutely vital to mental and physical well-being, as the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, made clear. PPS 3 makes it clear that design which is inappropriate in that context or which fails to take account of the opportunities available for improving the character and quality of an area and the way it functions should not be accepted. The boroughs already have the powers that they need to protect gardens. They also have additional powers and tools afforded through national policy. That will guide the Mayor’s decisions when he uses his power to determine and when he acts as local planning authority, in the same way as the borough would. It is not necessary and contrary to good planning to put in place a blanket statutory requirement such as the amendment would impose. It is an emotive subject but, in the light of what I said, I hope the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham, will feel that she can withdraw the amendment.