Planning Bill

I beg to move, To leave out from ““That”” to the end of the Question, and add instead thereof:"that this House declines to give a Second Reading to the Planning Bill because, whilst there is a need to speed up the planning system and undo the extra bureaucracy introduced in the 2004 Act, the Bill creates a new Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) which is fundamentally undemocratic and unaccountable to both local and national elected representatives, deprives Parliament of the ability to approve, amend or reject National Planning Statements and fails to guarantee that all ""revenues from the Community Infrastructure Levy will be fully retained by local authorities; and because the combination of the IPC, the Homes and Communities Agency and more powerful regional development agencies represents the systematic dismantling of local democracy to the detriment of the local environment and local accountability." As always, it is a pleasure to follow the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. I was a little concerned about her well-being throughout the process. It might have been a bit provocative to suggest that the opening speech in 1947 went on for two hours. I feared that Labour Members were going to keep her here answering questions for that long. I noted the references to Napoleon. I hope that the Bill is not her Waterloo. If that is the case, perhaps a statement on the extension of the runway at St. Helena would mean that it is ready in time for her eventual exile there. The right hon. Lady speaks with great expertise on the subject. She had a distinguished record as a local authority solicitor dealing in the planning process, among other things. Her practical experience of planning is welcome. Time spent with Salford city council, Rossendale borough council and Wigan metropolitan borough council will have given her valuable experience of the many failings of the current system, not to mention her intimate knowledge of the many additional flaws introduced by the Government in recent years. It is therefore all the more puzzling that her journey from Wigan pier has transmogrified into a canter down the yellow brick road. How did we go from a noble intention to improve the delivery of essential infrastructure for this country to a Bill that strips local communities of a voice on planning, and fails to address the burdens and the obstacles in the planning system created by her Government? It is only three years since the last planning Bill. In the words of the then Minister, the aims of that Bill were:"““We want to make the system fairer, faster and more predictable and to bring to planning clarity, certainty and more strategic direction.””—[Official Report, 17 December 2002; Vol. 396, c. 731.]" That could well have been taken from the right hon. Lady's speech today. However, just a few months on from those words, and without the measures being fully implemented, we are off again. She knows the planning system and must know in her heart that this Bill is not the answer to the problem. In a press release, the right hon. Lady said that the Bill is"““to deliver a faster and more efficient planning””" process. She went on to say that the Bill is"““to deliver high quality decisions with greater community involvement.””" The only way in which she can achieve greater community involvement through the Bill is to arrange for representatives of the public collectively to wave goodbye to local accountability and their ancient right of a hearing while they watch a more powerful and unsackable quango take the lot. The Bill gives communities the same amount of involvement in planning as there is openness in a cheque from one of Mr. Abrahams' patsies. With the right hon. Lady's expertise, she must surely question the Bill when the coalition of environmental groups that oppose it says:"““The current planning system allows people to be part of the decision making process. They can have their say on proposals for major developments such as new roads or nuclear power stations. But…Planning decisions will also be taken out of the hands of accountable politicians and handed over to an unelected, unaccountable new body””."