Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

The noble Lord mentioned guidance far too much. Every other word was about guidance, which is what we are concerned about. I thought he said that guidance might be applied on a different basis. Clearly, what happens in my county is very different from what might happen in Lancashire, Northumberland or Cornwall. Therefore, guidance will need to be applied differently. If guidance is to be applied to processes, it will result in much more bureaucracy, which is one of the things we are all concerned about. I hope that the noble Lord is not thinking that there will be so much detailed national guidance that we will stop what we are doing now and start all over again. Local authorities are doing their very best. If they are encumbered with national guidance, it might make the situation much worse. I hope that the noble Lord will reflect on that. He said that the national guidance would be light touch, but successive Secretaries of State can view ““light touch”” differently. We are very concerned about this issue.