Housing and Regeneration Bill

I think that that was a good opener for the Committee today. I should tell the noble Lord, Lord Graham, that I do not think that any side of the House does not want to see the housing targets succeed. We all want that; what we are debating is how we best achieve it. I do not think that anybody is going to argue that there is no need for it, and I think that my remarks indicated that. I was interested and relieved that the Minister talked about the balance, flexibility and expertise that need to be on this board. I understand the point of not having representation from the bodies at the coal face, as there may be conflicts of interest. However, because they know what the problems are and what the barriers are to achieving our goals, it will be vital that, when they come to the board and say that they have a problem and cannot do something because of X, Y or Z, the board should listen and work out how to overcome those barriers, rather than just saying that it is too difficult. If we are going to achieve the targets as we are trying to do, when there are barriers we must look at ways of getting round them. Therefore, if we are not to have representation from those at the coal face it is vital that the board listens and reacts when problems are raised. I was slightly disappointed that the Minister did not say anything about my champion for rural areas. However, I am sure that the issue will come up again. This is a slightly different picture from the bigger picture, or the other picture, in the urban areas. There needs to be someone to say to the board, ““You’re dealing with the urban areas and the regeneration there, or with eco-towns—but what about the rural areas?”” There needs to be a champion to remind the board that rural areas are very important.