Planning Bill

I think that everybody would agree that there has to be a review process and an obligation to undertake it. I question whether putting in timescales is the right way to go about it, because that might suggest that the Secretary of State does not have to review until the five-year period, or whatever period is stipulated, is up. Equally, to say that the policy statement should be continuously reviewed may impose an undue obligation or undue pressure on the Secretary of State. I draw the Committee’s attention to Clause 13(2), which relates to legal challenges. It states: "““A court may entertain proceedings for questioning a decision of the Secretary of State not to review a national policy statement only if””," certain conditions are fulfilled. The clear implication is that, if a request was made to the Secretary of State that circumstances had changed and that there was now material on which he should review the national policy statement, and he then, having taken account of that, refused to do so, the court could entertain a challenge to that. There will always be a trigger; when people put new information before the Secretary of State, he or she will have in his or her mind the clear stick of a possible judicial review. These are difficult issues. I appreciate that we are all trying to get to the same point. The threat of judicial review on the Secretary of State’s refusal to review a national policy statement provides an obligation on him to do so when there is new material.