UK Parliament / Open data

Housing and Regeneration Bill

A few months ago I met a gentleman whose daughter had given land to be used by a community land trust. That is clearly admirable. However, she did not, of course, have to achieve best consideration, which a local authority or any other public body would presumably have to do. I imagine that is one of the problems in creating CLTs, which is a concept that we on these Benches very much support. As I read this—I may have got it wrong—these amendments would make CLTs subject to registration. I do not know whether that is what it is intended. The noble Lord said that this is a very modest amendment. I was taken aback to discover there was an issue over the absence of a definition. I can understand that the absence of accepted structures could be a problem but not the absence of a definition. However, I am not trying to create these bodies and I take his word for it. The Housing and Regeneration Bill is exactly the right place to consider this matter, but we should be looking for something that is not necessarily very long but that gives a basis on which authorities can work and, forgive the pun, build on. I appreciate that the Bill is at a relatively late stage but, more to the point, the Government are under pressure to get legislation through before the end of the Session. Nevertheless, I hope that we take this opportunity to facilitate the outcomes that we want to see. After all, what should legislation achieve other than to facilitate an outcome?
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
702 c223GC 
Session
2007-08
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords Grand Committee
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