Housing and Regeneration Bill

moved Amendment No. 13: 13: Clause 2, page 1, line 10, leave out ““The”” and insert ““Working through the planning system and in partnership with local government and the other agencies already involved, the”” The noble Lord said: It is a pleasure to return to the beginning of the Bill. It is quite unusual to commence a Bill at the end. I compliment the Government on the brevity of Clause 1, which is remarkable. It fulfils all the needs because the detail is in Schedule 1. We now turn to Clause 2, which is not quite so satisfactory. It is drafted in perfectly clear language and states: "““The objects of the HCA are—""(a) to improve the supply and quality of housing in England,""(b) to secure the regeneration or development of land or infrastructure in England,""(c) to support in other ways the creation, regeneration or development of communities in England””—" and so on. That may be fine for English Partnerships and the other, what I would call, contributory bodies being subsumed into the organisation, but although one has no difficulty with the objects, the clause does not pay due respect to all the other organisations involved. Standing in isolation, if the board were to look at those objects and say, ““This is our function””, it would not work. We know it would not work; the noble Baroness knows it would not work; and she has said so. I am the first to acknowledge that she has made it perfectly plain that if this new agency is to work well, it has to work within the planning system and in co-operation with the local authorities which deal with planning and so on. The amendments in this group are simply designed to make that plain. The way in which the clause is drafted is almost cruel as it disregards the huge quantum of work that is done across the whole community, with no acknowledgement whatever. I shall be a little naughty and quote from a couple of speeches which the noble Baroness made recently. She will recognise them. The Minister said: "““I stress that the Government will look to involve and consult closely local authorities when the use of these clauses is being considered. Indeed, in the one example that we have so far, when English Partnerships used its similar powers in Milton Keynes, the local authority was fully involved in establishing the delivery vehicle.""““With such a range of powers, noble Lords will want to be assured that we are not creating a behemoth or a juggernaut that will slow things down, impose top-down demands or frustrate other partners—whether housing associations, regional development agencies or local authorities. … The relationship between local authorities and the HCA will be critical. The agency will be no less than local government’s best delivery partner, working with the grain of local ambitions and local needs, while securing the achievement of government targets””.—[Official Report, 28/4/08; col. 43.]" That is absolutely fine. A bit later on the same day, the Minister went on: "““With powers come relationships, particularly relationships with local authorities. The powers of the HCA are wide because the task is wide. I believe the objectives that we have already expanded upon in another place meet the task before us. Because the objectives are wider, the powers we are taking—in relation to planning they are inherited powers—will be wider, too. Let me give the sort of assurances that were given time and again in another place by Ministers that the powers that we have taken are exceptional. They will be exceptional in use and will be governed by the Secretary of State's involvement. We will be in discussion with local authorities on the very rare occasions when the HCA needs to take planning powers… I turn to relationships with local authorities, which goes to the heart of much of what the HCA will be able to achieve… The HCA sits within the planning system. Nothing that the HCA will do will be outside the planning system. Its relationships with the regions—the regional spatial economic strategies, the future single regional strategies and local development plans and frameworks—will be crucial… the key to success will lie in its ability actively to collaborate at regional and local levels””.—[Official Report, 28/4/08; cols. 115-116.]" I could go on—I have more underlined—but I really could not have put it better myself. I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, for putting his name to Amendment No. 13. I thought that my name was a bit lonely on the Marshalled List until I realised that the Public Bill Office could not read my writing. I handed in a printed page with a heading on the top and added the name of my noble friend Lord Cathcart in script. They clearly thought that it was a slip of the pen—which it was—but it was deliberate. There is a very important issue here. The amendment is not being proposed to change the Bill in a very substantive way, but I tabled it because it would improve the psychology of the Bill. There are in the country a lot of people who are very worried, despite all the assurances that they were given in the other place, which the Minister has repeated, that this agency has the potential to become a monster. We need to write on the Bill words that ensure that it cannot become that. This does nothing to prevent, in appropriate circumstances, the allocation of planning powers, if that is deemed necessary. But the issue of partnership and co-operation will be absolutely fundamental to success. The Government’s housing targets are not for social housing; they are global housing targets, with a large quantum of construction aimed deliberately at the private sector where the demand, even now, goes far ahead of the available supply—and I disregard the existing situation, which exacerbates the difficulties that the housing industry faces. Demand is much greater than supply, and we have to find a way round that, which will not be done if there is a feeling that somebody could ride roughshod over the local communities who are already very heavily involved and committed to development to meet their needs. There is a third party that we have not mentioned but which is equally disregarded: the whole development industry, which is used to working in partnership with local authorities through the planning authorities. They have an intimate relationship and they work closely, so we need to make sure that that can continue. This is really a psychological amendment, which I hope that the Minister will take very seriously. I have not suggested that she could just stand up and say yes to it. I suspect that she is not going to be so gracious and do that, but it would be lovely. I beg to move.