Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

My Lords, Amendment 156 is an amendment to Clause 65, which concerns local authority economic assessments. My amendment would provide that the new clause shall in no way affect a local authority’s powers or duties in relation to the social or environmental well-being of its area. The Government will say that the amendment is unnecessary. The Minister grins at that: perhaps it is his first line. However, the amended clause would make a very important statement that is not currently in the Bill. I tabled an amendment, framed a little differently, in Grand Committee. It required local authorities to have regard to social and environmental issues alongside economic ones. It provoked the comment from the Government that my amendment would "unnecessarily constrain" local authorities. If the assurances about the importance of all three pillars of well-being—economic, social and environmental—mean anything, I do not understand how my amendment would constrain local authorities. The phrase makes me fear that the assurances are not as I would like to understand them. The Government relied in Grand Committee on guidance that we have yet to see and referred to the policy statement that we have seen. I acknowledge that the policy statement covers wider ground than the narrowly economic. It mentions, for instance—just to show that I have looked at it—the transition to a low-carbon economy and the causes of worklessness. However, that is in a policy statement; it will not be in statute. If this or any future Government become even more panicky about the economy, there will be no statutory backing for the balance. We on these Benches believe that it is necessary to consider all three aspects at the same time: they all support one another. The social and environmental well-being of an area in itself supports the economy of that area. I beg to move.