The right hon. Gentleman raises an interesting point. It might be helpful if we discussed how to judge what is beautiful in civic terms. I will happily engage with the Minister on how we might set up such a system. We could have citizens’ panels and they could get advice from relevant bodies around the country. If the Minister were to adopt the new clause and discuss with us how the measures in it could be delivered, it would be a helpful and constructive way forward, so I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his intervention.
As I was saying, we think that the system should look at
“the quality of life, wellbeing and health of people and communities... contribute to sustainable economic development…protect and enhance the natural and historic environment and quality of existing communities and the countryside…ensure long term sustainable patterns of resource use”
and, as I said and as the right hon. Gentleman just highlighted, it should
“positively promote civic beauty through high quality and inclusive design; and…ensure the planning system is open, transparent, participative and accountable.”
None of that, however, has been taken on board by the Minister. In fact, in their rush and desperation to be seen to be doing something to produce growth, the Government have forgotten the real purpose of planning. Planning is a tool for people to shape places positively and for communities to ensure that they have homes for their children and developments that are beneficial to them and the economy. The Government seem determined to characterise planning solely as an obstacle to growth—clearly an attempt to disguise the fact that their policies are the real brake on growth and what we should be resisting.
5 pm
New clause 6 deals with the separate issue of changes to permitted development rights. It is an extremely important measure so I will spend a couple of minutes going through its purpose. Let me take the House back to the written statement by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on 6 September 2012. It was one of the panic measures brought forth on that day to suggest that the Government were doing something to address the need for growth, and the Minister has referred to the statement on numerous occasions.
The Secretary of State said:
“We will consult shortly on changes to increase existing permitted development rights for extensions to homes and business premises in non-protected areas for a three-year period.”—[Official Report, 6 September 2012; Vol. 549, c. 34WS.]
The Minister will know that the policy has met with widespread derision, not least from his own Back Benchers who are extremely worried about suddenly having permitted development—and the extensions and conservatories that go alongside it—extended from 4 metres to 8 metres for detached properties, and from 3 metres to 6 metres for semi-detached or terraced properties. As we know, that policy applies also to business premises.
Conservative Back Benchers are concerned about those huge extensions. I know that, because while wandering along the corridors they have told me that they agree with the Labour party’s stance on the issue, and that they are pleased I am asking the Government for a greater explanation of why these measures are being proposed. Does the Minister really intend to press ahead with these ideas given the huge outrage they have led to across a range of local authorities, including—significantly—the Local Government Association? I will come to some of the points made by the LGA in a minute or two.
In his written statement, the Secretary of State said that he would bring forward a consultation document, which he has done. That allows me to say that this interesting Bill has, I think, been accompanied by more consultation documents than any other in history; we are up to four—or is it five? I am nervous about mentioning consultation documents when the Minister is about to reply, because I usually find that yet another one will just have been announced. With that caveat, however, I will plough on.
The consultation document states that the policy is to allow people to build conservatories and the like while respecting the amenity of neighbours. Once again I ask
the Minister how that will be achieved without a planning system to negotiate between the two neighbours involved. The Minister will know that on a number of occasions councils have had to step in and use their planning powers to ask that extensions be removed, because people have gone ahead and built them without planning permission. That has greatly upset the neighbours by intruding on their amenity and the reasonable use of their property. My point is that the planning system had to step in and sort out the problem, but the Minister is giving people up and down the country a licence to build completely inappropriate extensions that will have to be sorted out by a planning authority at a future date. New clause 6 therefore seeks to give local authorities the power to decide whether to extend permitted development rights and whether the proposal should go ahead at all. The Opposition believe that the new clause is important. It is in keeping with localism, which the Minister says he supports, and we therefore cannot see any reason he would not accept it.
That is also the view of the LGA, which the last time I checked, which was not that long ago, was under Conservative control—[Interruption.] I am prompted by my right hon. and hon. Friends to say that it is under Conservative control for the time being. The LGA has noted that local authorities should be allowed to set their own permitted development rights. The LGA states:
“The current system allows central government to set out permitted development rights and provides local authorities limited”
mechanisms
“to amend this.”
It would like the current system to be reviewed. It says that allowing permitted development rights to be set at local authority level would allow for the consideration of individual local issues and could lead to a boost in development overall, and that the new clause would be a truly localist measure, further empowering democratically elected representatives. I could not agree more. If the Minister is not prepared to pay attention to the Opposition, I hope he might at least pay attention to his Conservative local authorities, which clearly ask that he acts on localism and gives them the power to decide whether to extend permitted development rights.
Lastly, amendment 49 deals with a completely different issue—as I said a number of times in Committee, the Bill is a rag-bag of measures that the Government have proposed in the hope that they suggest that they are doing something about growth, so it necessitates jumping from one issue to another. We have concerns that clause 8 will make it easier for telecommunications equipment to receive planning consent even in areas of outstanding natural beauty and national parks. The intention is for the measure to apply only to broadband cabinets and related infrastructure. The Opposition fully support steps to increase access to broadband, but there is a lack of clarity in clause 8, which relates not specifically to broadband but covers all telecommunications equipment. Amendment 49 would ensure that the clause is restricted to broadband, and to broadband that is developed sustainably. It would leave out
“economic growth in the United Kingdom”
and insert
“sustainable development and economic growth in the United Kingdom through the Government’s broadband programme.”
Given the Government’s commitment to sustainable development and their stated intent to limit the clause’s application to broadband equipment, I hope the Minister supports such an amendment.
The promotion of broadband is vital. The amendment does not seek to prevent the roll-out of broadband, and particular the roll-out in rural areas, but simply seeks to limit the scope and potential damage that could be inflicted on such beautiful areas by the clause. If the Minister accepts the amendment, he would reassure the many campaign groups that are justifiably concerned about the lack of clarity in the clause and about how it could cover a huge amount of communications equipment. Indeed, the Communications Act 2003 describes a
“wide range of electronic communications services”,
and it is that that gives us and a number of campaigning groups concern about clause 8 as drafted.