Housing and Regeneration Bill

What an interesting short debate that was. I take the noble Lord's point. It takes us back a little to some of the debates we had—it seems a lifetime ago—in the opening stages of our deliberations when we discussed the ability of the HCA to provide directly and the need for it to have that power, as opposed to simply enabling other people to do things. In a way, this is partly a continuation of that sort of debate. One of the objects of the HCA, which makes it clear and different from the Housing Corporation, is the explicit requirement for the agency to support regeneration, the development of communities in England and their continued well-being. We have a clear idea of what we mean by community services and I know that the noble Lord knows that extremely well. Some of those ideas are clearly set out in this list, such as ““new businesses””, providing ““employment””, providing ““business or employment””, providing ““safe and attractive environments”” and so forth. I will return to anti-social behaviour and reducing the fear of crime in a moment. This is a necessary power and this is a necessary way to express that power in the form of the HCA’s ability to provide directly, because it will be able to do that. Those types of services, essentially created by the HCA but in partnership with local authorities, will make communities viable, sustainable and indeed enjoyable in the future. I understand on one level, quite rightly, that the noble Lord wants to make it clear that these services are provided appropriately and where reasonable either by the HCA or by any other person or organisation. To address the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Brooke, the provision of religious services means communities and community facilities rather than buildings for worship, as I understand it. But when we come to how these services will be provided, what is important is that we must be realistic. We want to retain the power to provide, hence the direct language in the clause, but no community service will be imposed on any local authority. It will be part of the partnership about which we have already spoken a great deal in this Bill between the HCA and the local authority. What does the community need in order to be regenerated, renewed and properly planned and resourced for the future? It is important that the HCA has the ability to provide directly, because we know that the capacity of local authorities and local agencies will simply not be sufficient for the task in hand. It is therefore perfectly appropriate for the HCA to boost local resources and provide directly what the local authority agrees will make a difference, be it to young people or others. That is very much at the behest of the local authority. It was asked how one realistically imagines the HCA preventing anti-social behaviour or crime. There is a whole range of practical measures, some of which I am fairly sure have been supported in the past by English Partnerships. I think of what we have seen in disadvantaged areas in our regeneration work—for example, community wardens and better street lighting provided directly. We are talking, essentially, about designing out crime. Some of the housing estates that I have seen during the past couple of years, where we are addressing dysfunctional design, lead one to wonder what the architects were thinking of in the beginning. Narrow alleyways, for example, are perfect territory for the runaway vandal or petty criminal. It is impossible either to catch or contain them. We have learned much in recent years about how one can make places safer and design in safety. That is the outcome that we are looking for in those clauses. Nevertheless, this is a really interesting debate. I am sure that the noble Lord agrees with us that we are right to give such priority to community services and the need to provide. I hope that he will agree that the language is appropriate for the reasons that I have given and that, through the close working relationships between local authorities and the HCA, we will see the changes that we both want.