Growth and Infrastructure Bill

Now that the Minister has mentioned sustainable development, would he care to give the House a de...

The hon. Lady had a good go at trying to define sustainable development at some length earlier th...

The hon. Gentleman mentioned planning departments, but he must recognise that his Government have...

I do not accept the hon. Gentleman’s premise. Lots of other factors are leading to inefficiency i...

I am pleased to follow the hon. Member for Halesowen and Rowley Regis (James Morris) and I want t...

I am pleased to follow the hon. Member for Easington (Grahame M. Morris). One thing that he and I...

I agree with my hon. Friend about the importance of good development. Does he also agree that loc...

Absolutely. My hon. Friend will have heard my remarks about localism and neighbourhood planning. ...

If I said that I enthusiastically support the Bill, I would not want Ministers to run away with t...

It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Cleethorpes (Martin Vickers).

I we...

My hon. Friend is making an interesting point. Is it not also true that since 2008 there have bee...

My hon. Friend and fellow Suffolk MP makes an extremely useful point. I was not going to cover it...

I support my hon. Friend’s contention that we need a fundamental review of the business rates rev...

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention, with which I agree entirely. I will come on to that...

It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Waveney (Peter Aldous); like him, I welc...

May I start by congratulating the new Minister, the right hon. Member for Sevenoaks (Michael Fall...

That was an incredible list of gloom-laden points, but what does the shadow Minister make of the ...

Given the current state of the economy, the hon. Gentleman should be a little more contrite when ...

Surely the whole point of an employee share scheme is that it is voluntary and optional. Is it no...

Let me make three points in answer to that question. First, this applies to new jobs. Secondly, t...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way again. If the scheme is not voluntary, can he explain e...

I suspect that we shall see two developments. We shall probably see an advertisement for employee...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I am running out of time, so I shall canter on, if I may.

There are so many unanswered ques...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will give way to the hon. Member for Warrington South (David Mowat), who was a member of the Co...

I was indeed.

Every year, thousands of people who work for firms of lawyers and accountants...

I think that there is a slight difference between people who take on a partnership in an accounta...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I am afraid that I do not have time. [Interruption.] It is the Government who schedule these deba...

I thank the hon. Member for Edinburgh South (Ian Murray) for the welcome he gave me, if not for d...

Will the Minister give way?

I will in a moment.

I welcome, too, the support that we have had from my hon. Friends the M...

rose—

rose—

I will give way in a moment.

The right hon. Members for Greenwich and Woolwich (Mr Raynsfor...

rose—

Order. The Minister of State is not giving way. He gives every indication at this stage of wishin...

Of course we will listen in Committee to the debate on each clause, but the Labour party is going...

Will the Minister return to the points raised by the right hon. Member for Arundel and South Down...

I have already made it absolutely clear that as we have simplified the planning guidance, we are,...

Whatever this Bill is about, it is not about growth. I have the authority of the Prime Minister o...

I always appreciate forays into family history from those on the Opposition Front Benches, and I ...

The hon. Gentleman has said twice that a small number of authorities have, in his view, an unacce...

The right hon. Gentleman tries the same old trick as the shadow Secretary of State. Importantly, ...

The hon. Gentleman is too wise to fall into the Opposition’s trap of naming specific authorities ...

I do not have all the information that Ministers have to draw a distinction, but the statutory ti...

I think Ministers know that this is a rubbish Bill. We have seen no defence at all against the at...

I would like to make a small contribution to this important debate about what are serious issues,...

I am listening carefully to the powerful case that my hon. Friend is making. He has not yet menti...

I completely agree with my hon. Friend.

I was about to make the point that it is crucial th...

It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Carlisle (John Stevenson). He and I spent ma...

I refer Members to my declaration in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.

It has b...

I am pleased to be able to follow the hon. Member for Newton Abbot (Anne Marie Morris). I thank h...

I am going to make quite a critical speech of the Bill and even perhaps agree with some of the re...

First, may I draw attention to my interests as declared in the register?

I am pleased to fo...

I wonder whether my right hon. Friend will excuse my ignorance of geography and who has political...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his question. I think he will be able to guess that Stratford...

My right hon. Friend is making an incredibly important point about the effect of the change on se...

I fear that the consequence will be to embolden developers who simply want to ditch section 106 o...

It is always a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich (Mr Raynsford)...

I commend the right hon. Gentleman on the points he is making. Does he agree that one of the prob...

My hon. Friend puts his finger precisely on the right point. If that balance were not achieved pr...

I support my right hon. Friend’s remarks. My constituency contains areas of outstanding natural b...

I am grateful for my right hon. Friend’s remarks. She expressed herself in the same way as I have...

I welcome the contribution of the right hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs (Nick Herbert). U...

I welcome the placing of growth at the heart of legislation such as this. One of my criticisms of...

The point is well made. Investment in power should be for the benefit of the whole community; the...

I want to take us back to the Planning Act 2008. There was a sense that it had an element of a fa...

The hon. Gentleman is setting out an interesting narrative. Is he seriously suggesting this Bill ...

Yes, I am suggesting that parts of this Bill were planned before the recess. Its proposed changes...

Does the hon. Gentleman accept that the two points he has raised are not material planning consid...

I accept that they may not be planning considerations, but they are certainly considerations in w...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

No, I will not.

Devolution to councils is being held up, either because they are incapable ...

I am slightly confused as to whether the hon. Gentleman is the same MP for Henley who said in sup...

I am not sure I see the relevance of the quote, but it was overtaken by time, by the way in which...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will not, because I do not have much time.

The clauses that deal with section 106 agreeme...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Henley (John Howell), although he will find that I...

I am listening carefully to my hon. Friend’s local experience and paralleling it with the experie...

I agree with my hon. Friend, and for the people of Battle Hill this will be not a fun experience ...

My starting point is that I want to support and achieve growth in our economy and good-quality in...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

I would like to proceed.

Enforced renegotiation means that benefits from 106 agreements may...

The hon. Lady is giving a thoughtful and careful critique of the Bill. Given that she will vote l...

I am indicating clearly that a large number of areas need to be scrutinised very carefully, and t...

This is the Growth and Infrastructure Bill, but it could more accurately be described as the Engl...

Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s former chief of staff, said that one should never let a good cris...

It is no surprise that we are talking today about growth in this Chamber, or rather the lack of g...

I rise to welcome the Bill and to speak particularly about infrastructure issues, which I hope th...

Of course, and the fact that local authorities have been willing to renegotiate the section 106 a...

Why does the right hon. Gentleman think so many local authorities have been unwilling to renegoti...

The hon. Gentleman says “so many”, but the Government have not given us the evidence. The whole B...

My reading of the clause is that it is directed at projects of a national significance, particula...

I say gently to the hon. Gentleman that we made changes to the system and that one of the groups ...

Does my right hon. Friend see the irony, as many Opposition Members do, in the fact that the Gove...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right, and that is why those who care passionately about the nationa...

Does the right hon. Gentleman recognise, as many of us do, that the provision for registering vil...

Having looked at this when I was Secretary of State, I recognise that there some such cases, but ...

The right hon. Gentleman makes a very reasonable point. Of course we will publish an impact asses...

That is extremely helpful, and we look forward to seeing those documents.

Amid all the cent...

Order. It is unhelpful in a debate to have Ministers shouting from the Front Bench, and then for ...

I was trying to encourage the Under-Secretary to provide clarity to the House, Madam Deputy Speak...

I wonder whether my right hon. Friend can help me to understand this despicable proposal and expl...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right; the Bill has nothing to do with that report at all and is abo...

rose—

Order. I remind Members that there is a 12-minute time limit on Back-Bench contributions to this ...

I welcome the Secretary of State’s aims for the Bill—boosting infrastructure, cutting red tape an...

Not only did the previous Government create conflict within communities, they skewed how communit...

My hon. Friend expresses eloquently one virtue of ensuring that decisions can be taken on a local...

We cannot definitively model geographical spread. All we can do is rely on our officials’ best pr...

That was a valiant attempt by the Secretary of State to try to pretend that the centralisation of...

Eric Pickles!

No, they said it was the lack of clarity from the UK Government.

Thirdly, the reason we hav...

Against that background, will the right hon. Gentleman explain why under the Government of which ...

I do not know which survey the hon. Gentleman means, but as he knows we did a great deal.

<...

I mean the World Economic Forum’s global competitiveness report—those reports run from 1997 throu...

As the hon. Gentleman has a wee bit more time on his hands these days, I would very gladly read a...

Is it not noticeable that the Secretary of State refused to give way to answer the key question: ...

If my hon. Friend bears with me a moment, I shall come presently to precisely that point. The fir...

As the right hon. Gentleman knows and, more particularly, as other Opposition Members know, I hav...

That is extremely interesting. If the Secretary of State can name what is in his view a failing p...

I also made it absolutely clear that, of course, we are working with the LGA and local authoritie...

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

Perhaps my hon. Friend will just bear with me for a second, as I am very interested further in th...

The right hon. Gentleman needs to go back a little in history and look at the imposed housing tar...

I say to the hon. Lady that it is not ridiculous; it is what clause 1 says. If she has not read t...

In an intervention a few minutes ago, the Secretary of State said that he would be working with t...

I certainly will come on to that point, but those conversations with the LGA will be jolly intere...

Where was the local democratic accountability in the regional spatial strategies?

I accept the hon. Gentleman’s argument. The regional spatial strategies meant that local authorit...

My right hon. Friend makes a good case against the Secretary of State taking from local authoriti...

My hon. Friend, who chairs the Select Committee so ably, is absolutely right. That is another exa...

Does the right hon. Gentleman count it a success that the previous Government had a planning poli...

I made it very clear, I think in my first speech with my new responsibilities last autumn, that e...

I have been following my right hon. Friend’s remarks with considerable interest. Does he think it...

That is an extremely interesting suggestion by my right hon. Friend, and only those on the Govern...

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the purpose of clause 2 is possibly similar to that of claus...

I can only say to my hon. Friend that I do not know whether there is any connection between the t...

Does the shadow Secretary of State agree that, given the weakness of the banks and the problems i...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

Not for a while.

Unviable section 106 agreements have led to no development, no negotiation...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

Not for a while.

rose—

I will give way in a moment. I ask the hon. Gentleman to be patient, and allow me to develop my p...

I am grateful to the Secretary of State. He is very kind. Does he accept the view of David Orr, t...

Only in the fantasy housing figures. The truth is that 41% of local authorities have already star...

Of course none of us wants stalled sites and there are many of them, but will the Secretary of St...

Of course this is not going to be done on the basis of a developer’s word—developers will have to...

I think that this is the best bit in the Bill. It is so obvious that we have to allow the develop...

There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but I am afraid that a strange municipal machismo ha...

Healthy competition.

That is absolutely right. That goes to the heart of what we are doing. We are pleased to be intro...

Will my right hon. Friend accept, from his experience of local government, my experience and that...

I think that is precisely how we got into this problem. That is why we are looking to developers ...

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

I give way for the final time.

Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is not just the targets on the percentage of affordable h...

My hon. Friend makes a reasonable point. I want to make it clear that we do not want to go back t...

rose—

I say I will give way for the final time more often than Frank Sinatra said he would be performin...

I share the Secretary of State’s desire to try to use this mechanism to boost our high streets. H...

The hon. Gentleman should not be mocked for not understanding this, because the misconception is ...

None the less, businesses in my constituency have expressed dismay at this announcement. What ana...

I am most grateful for my hon. Friend’s endorsement.

rose—

I shall give way to the hon. Gentleman, who I am sure will entertain us.

When the Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, the hon. Member for Grant...

That question might have sounded like a good idea earlier this morning, but this is the wrong Bil...

rose—

rose—

Of course I will give way to the very distinguished gentleman. [Interruption.] Or were there two ...

On this occasion, I believe the Secretary of State is referring to a former Minister of State—wit...

I am grateful to the Secretary of State for giving way, and hope this will not cause him any diff...

First, there are national policy statements, in addition to which we are going to consult. Let me...

I am grateful and I understand why my right hon. Friend gave way to a much more distinguished Mem...

That is a reasonable point. My hon. Friend will know—I know he is an assiduous reader of these th...

May I press the Secretary of State on the point raised by my right hon. Friend the Member for Gre...

There are obviously national policy statements—full stop. In addition, we are consulting on where...

I will, of course, give way to the Chair of the Communities and Local Government Committee.

The Secretary of State said that one of the Government’s fundamental intentions is to transfer po...

No, it is accountable to Ministers and directly to this House, which I think restores the politic...

Will the Secretary of State reassure my constituents, many of whom have fought hard for tradition...

The national planning policy framework actually strengthens green spaces.

Is the Secretary of State aware of how much work his Minister of State is doing to unfreeze the b...

I am delighted to hear about the magnificent work done by my hon. Friend the Minister of State. I...

Will my right hon. Friend confirm that, despite what is being said in the media, the planning gui...

Of course it does, and it is pleasing that so many local authorities now publish a plan much more...

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

I think it would be reasonable to make a little progress now.

Now some reforms can be deliv...

I welcome the wish to get on with sensible infrastructure development, and I see that there are p...

The new procedures remove a lot of the old regulations, which have been superseded by time, and m...

Is the Secretary of State aware that in Coventry there is a considerable need for social housing ...

I am sure the hon. Gentleman will be pleased that Coventry has made enormous strides in recent mo...

May I thank my right hon. Friend and his colleagues for the assurances that they have given so pu...

The regional spatial strategies represent the single greatest threat to the green belt. In them, ...

My constituency covers part of the Dartmoor national park, where there is real concern about a pr...

And I am sure that they will under this Bill. These regulations are not a free-for-all. All that ...

I represent the constituency that contains the Northumberland national park. Kielder forest has m...

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Two years ago, the coalition Govern...

Will the Secretary of State give way?

I will give way in a few moments.

Since those heady days of May 2010, the economy has been ...

The Secretary of State talks about building more homes. Tens of thousands of homes could be built...

I am sure the hon. Gentleman was delighted to see the latest figures that show a net increase of ...

Will the Secretary of State confirm that, whatever details the Bill contains to allow greater fle...

My right hon. Friend can rest assured that the Government are confident of being able to deliver ...

Will the Secretary of State give way?