Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

My Lords, the Government have laid these amendments as a direct response to earlier opposition amendments. I am grateful that the noble Lord, Lord Patel, gave a commitment on Report to come back with these amendments. I am pleased that the Government have been prepared to concede that in this area at least their original ideas were probably not the best ones. We have said all along that the Government should show a little faith in local authorities to do what is right and necessary for the well-being of their local people. We have said consistently—this was one of the few coherent themes running through the Bill—that the Government’s original proposals were far too centralised, detailed and prescriptive. My noble friend Lord Hanningfield and I have done our best at every stage to persuade the Government to recognise this problem. To their credit, the Minister and the noble Lord, Lord Patel, have been prepared to listen. I do not wish to speak at length at Third Reading save to say that while much of the Bill is imperfect, unnecessary or even both, we have ended up with a much improved version than that which we first confronted many weeks ago. At times I felt that I sounded like a broken record, rehearsing the same arguments again and again. However, I felt that I had to do so. Therefore, it is something of a relief to feel that I did not do so in vain. I welcome these amendments.