Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]

I also support new clause 1, even though the seat that I represent is not under threat at the moment. My right hon. Friend the Member for Hitchin and Harpenden (Mr. Lilley) has pointed out that the Bill sets a precedent that could be used by councils unable to meet the housing targets imposed on them from outside. In principle, therefore, I want the new clause to be accepted, but I am sorry that he did not take his argument one stage further. My right hon. Friend argued that the lack of democratic accountability means that it is not proper for a local council to build in another council's area. I want to go further and say that the problem with our current housing arrangements is that that democratic accountability has been removed, with the result that the number of houses to be built in any given place is decided centrally. That figure is then sent through bodies that somehow purport to be representative, as the hon. Member for Manchester, Blackley (Graham Stringer) noted, and then imposed on the duly elected local authority in a way that is unacceptable. We must seriously consider returning to local authorities the power to ensure that other authorities do not interfere with them in that way, which would mean abolishing the undemocratic planning committees at regional level. Regions do not exist. I live in east Suffolk, which has no connection at all with Luton, and yet we are included in the same eastern region. That is madness. We even have a Select Committee to discuss a region that does not exist, and we also have a Minister: she represents Stevenage, a place the location of which in the eastern region is merely a figment of the Government's imagination. The idea that the regions set up by the Government do any good at all is wholly fictitious. The only set-up more stupid involves the strategic health authorities of the NHS, which do nothing but blame the Government or the local primary care trust. Another problem with the regions is that there is an inevitable tension between the need for growth and development on the one hand, and the need for the protection and defence of the environment on the other. The local electorate must be able to defend their turf but, equally, a council that finds the right place in its area for development must be able to get some benefit from that development. This Bill is meant to be about local democracy, but I am sorry that it does not provide that local authorities should retain for 10 years the business rates and council tax accruing from any new development, in addition to their normal central Government grant. That would give local authorities a reason to benefit from development decisions. At present, they face significant disadvantages, as it is always true that residents of an area already have votes, while those who might wish to live there do not. As new clause 1 suggests, a sensible development system would require that a local authority that has no place, standing or position in an area could not impose its housing obligations on that area. I am only sorry that the new clause does not cover the circumstances that arise when the local authority that does control an area makes a choice in favour of development. Our system does not allow a council in that position to benefit from that choice, and so such matters are not debated properly with local electorates.