Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

I thank the Minister for her detailed response. It has been an extremely informative start. We heard about the number of years that various members of the Committee had served—35 years by the noble Lord, Lord Tope, and 31 years by the noble Lord, Lord Smith of Leigh. Indeed, there was reference to papers being written by the noble Lords, Lord Tope and Lord Greaves, although we did not quite get to the bottom of who wrote which paper and who put their name to it. What interests and intrigues me is that papers were being written while I was still in nappies. There was also reference to the wording of the amendments drafted by us. I would say to the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, that I do not think that there is a civil servant in me. I may have an inner lawyer in the way that I have drafted these particular amendments. However, I would say to the Minister that there may be an inner conflict in her comments. On the one hand, she said that she trusts local authorities to make sensible decisions and that the Government wish to impose a duty, a ““what””, but to leave the ““how”” to local authorities. However, Clauses 1 and 2 are quite prescriptive and detailed about what that duty should be. Therefore, the ““how”” is not being left to local authorities. There was some suggestion that the way in which Amendment 1 had been drafted was effectively destructive and destroyed the original clause. Well that is an idea. We may bring it back in another form at Report. However, at this stage, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment 1 withdrawn. Amendment 2 not moved.