Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

I listened with care to what the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, said—I enjoyed his example about snow clearing—and I listened with care to what the Minister said. Some time ago, the Minister and I both sat in a Committee on a Bill when I challenged the optimism with which the Government were reviewing the immediate future of the economy. One day, I shall look at precisely what the Minister said, but she implied that I had totally the wrong end of the stick and that the economy was in extraordinarily good shape. Events, on the whole, have betrayed her. She is exercising the same degree of optimism about what will happen as a result of this legislation. I may be suffering from an experience similar to that described by the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, about the responsibility for snow clearing changing hands. I live in an authority which is undergoing the transition into a unitary authority, instead of a series of district councils, a decision which was not reached democratically on the ground, but which was imposed from elsewhere. I would not say that people where I live could answer an examination question on who is responsible for what now, but I am absolutely clear that the consequence of change is that it will be a long time before they work out who is responsible for what under the new system. I am hesitant about how well all this will work.