Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [Lords]

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. In my letter, I said:""You asked for reassurance that if particular Councils were to apply for planning permission for housing development in another district and permission were to be granted, the houses that they built in that other district area would not count towards the target, which has been set for their own area or areas.""I can certainly assure you that any houses permitted and built in a particular area can only count towards the planned housing supply for that particular area as set out in the Regional Spatial Strategy…and Local Development Framework relevant to that area."" I should like to offer the right hon. Gentleman a meeting with me and officials to discuss the particular issues that he has raised. I know that those issues have been causing him ongoing concern, so if he feels it would be helpful for us to explain the processes in a little more detail, I am happy to do so. On the public toilet provision amendment, the Select Committee report was extremely helpful and I was glad that it congratulated the Government on some of the actions that have been taken so far, although I realise that my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes, South-West (Dr. Starkey) would like them to go further. To pick up on the issue raised by the hon. Member for Falmouth and Camborne (Julia Goldsworthy), I shall describe in a little more detail how the Bill will help to reinforce the duty on councils to consult. There are also mechanisms, such as petitions, whereby people can raise local issues. That goes to the heart of some of the debate on the role of central Government in setting strategic direction and on how we expect local councils to respond to issues raised by the community. I venture to suggest that the public toilet provision falls into the category of central Government trying to work with organisations and local authorities—as in our strategic guide—to say, "This is how you can have good provision." We have also issued further guidance on how to set up community toilet schemes. Given that the Government have shown how that can be done by working in partnership with local authorities, it would be possible under the Bill for local people to say, "We do not think the provision of public toilets is adequate," and if a petition was presented to the council, it would have a duty to respond. We need to get the balance right, and I should not like my hon. Friend to think that we have been sitting on our hands—so to speak—in relation to public toilet provision. We have been supporting the Changing Places campaign and we are working with the Changing Places Consortium to review the British standard and consider the needs of people with complex and multiple disabilities, to which she referred. On 13 January, Baroness Andrews, then a Minister, met representatives from the consortium on 13 January to discuss the progress of the campaign and investigate how we could help to highlight the consortium's work, building on the review of the British standard relating to the design of sanitary facilities to meet the needs of disabled people. In June, the Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley, North (Mr. Austin), attended the learning disability week parliamentary reception to celebrate this year's theme, "Changing Places, Changing Lives". We have also made a commitment to review the guidance that supports part M of the building regulations and to consider whether it needs to be updated to include improved guidance on specialised facilities. I hope I can reassure my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes, South-West that we have looked at the issue very closely. Indeed, I was discussing her report with officials only this morning and we went into some detail about the bits where she had endorsed and praised the Government and the bits where we needed to go further. The hon. Member for Christchurch (Mr. Chope) spoke about the loo of the year award, which was won by—I apologise for not being able to remember.