Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

I have one or two amendments in this group. They are all essentially about the same issue, which is closely related to the questions just raised by my noble friend Lady Hamwee—that is, the extent to which the setting up and review of EPBs, their dissolution and changes to them, will be imposed on particular councils, to the extent to which they will be bottom-up or top-down. Amendment 194D would require the consent of each authority to its inclusion in the area of a review. Amendment 194E refers to Clause 93(3)(b), which says that the review into setting up a new scheme, "““may include one or more other local government areas””." In other words, the councils carrying out the review can decide to review other council areas even if that council does not want to be and does not agree to be included. That seems outrageous and simply ought not to take place. It is arguable that the Government have the right to do this if they are reorganising local government in a particular area, but the idea that a group of councils should be able to review an area that includes some of their neighbours who are hostile to the review and do not want anything to do with it is undemocratic and, in any case, is likely to result in an enormous amount of friction. Amendment 194N similarly refers to changes to existing EPB arrangements and requires the consent of all the local authorities. Amendment 194AJ applies the same thinking to a combined authority area. Amendment 194AD requires a council’s consent to its inclusion in a review of a combined authority area. The amendments are all on the same lines and basically state that local authorities have the right to refuse, if they wish, to take part in any of these procedures.