Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

I am very happy to be joint with the noble Lords, Lord Graham of Edmonton and Lord Jenkin of Roding. I was a member of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames for 20 years, a member of the Greater London Authority for eight years, although it felt like 20 years, and I am a member of the advisory board of the Centre for Public Scrutiny. Those various positions have all informed my approach to the Bill. I do not disagree with my noble friend in his observations on these two clauses, particularly his comment about central government micromanaging with guidance. My amendments are milder but were tabled in the same spirit. Amendment 76 would take out Clause 6(4), which says: "““A principal local authority must … have regard to … guidance””." I accept that the amendment is not particularly sensible, as I suppose that, if there is to be guidance, an authority either has to have regard to it or has to be bound by it; of the two, I would rather that it simply had to have regard to it. We all know that, in the real world, cash tends to follow—