Planning Bill

My Amendment No. 72 would merely place in the Bill the requirement for a local consultee, which in my view it would be inconceivable to leave out of any genuine consultation process. I suspect that the omission of parish councils stems from the usual city-based, departmental process, where the parish councils often do not mean a lot to the people involved—an absence of rural proofing, one might say. If you live in a rural village or market town, the views and decisions of the parish council mean a lot to you. Local newspapers will often report their decisions and debates in much more detail than those of the district or county council, which are of course more remote. Indeed, many parish council decisions probably affect local people’s lives more than these rather more remote councils. I am sure that the Government will look in favour on this amendment because in recent years and months they have deserved credit for enhancing the role of parish councils by aiding their training and opportunities, assisting with parish plans, encouraging quality parishes and easing the passage of the Sustainable Communities Act, and indeed through the Communities in Control: Real People, Real Power White Paper, published earlier this summer. Therefore, it seems inconceivable that they could do all that for parishes and then commit the sin of omission by ostensibly excluding parish councils from a consultation process on something that could dramatically affect their lives. It is probably not immediately obvious to those who live in close-knit metropolitan areas that it is quite likely that an outlying parish in an urban-centric district council, such as mine in south Somerset, will take a different view from that of its district council. Sometimes, particularly on planning decisions, the district council takes a totally divergent view from the parish involved. Thus the parish council must be allowed to have its own say in the process. Even surrounding parishes should be included because Clause 8(3) already refers to contiguous parishes in this instance. Even, as is quite likely, if a parish takes a rather dim view of these bad neighbour developments and in the national interest has to be overruled, it is important to recognise that it will inevitably have a far better idea of which local mitigation measures will work effectively to reduce the damage to local people’s lives. Parish council views may be very different from those of the district or county council official who is often based in a town 20 or 30 miles away. I hope that it will please the Minister, who wants to speed everything up, that in speaking to Amendment No. 72, I shall also speak to Amendment No. 189. Amendment No. 72 refers to national policy statements that are site specific, so the parish is involved. Amendment No. 189, which is in a later grouping, refers to the developer’s pre-application procedure, but it is obviously very important that any applicant consults with parish councils and gives them an opportunity to submit their views. Amendment No. 292, which is in yet another grouping, governs in various places the procedures of the IPC. Clause 99 governs in various places, such as in Clauses 58(2)(a) and 54(2)(b). My remarks will refer to those three amendments. I hope that the amendments merely correct an oversight by the Bill team and that the Government will see their way to accepting them. It is inconceivable that the views of the parish council would not be sought by Parliament when discussing a site-specific NPS or by the developer and the IPC. It is extraordinary that the Government who are so keen on parish councils should not put that in the Bill. I hope that they will accept that simple amendment.