My Lords, government Amendment 26F addresses a recommendation made by the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee in its report published on 15 November last year.
The committee recommended that the scope of the power in new Section 26B(2)(g) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, which is inserted by Clause 52, should be narrowed. This power enables the Secretary of State to modify any provision of the 1990 Act as it applies in relation to heritage partnership agreements.
Heritage partnership agreements are voluntary agreements between owners and local planning authorities designed to help them to manage listed buildings more effectively and reduce the need for individual consent applications for minor or repetitive works. In response to the committee’s recommendation, Amendment 26F narrows the scope of this power to focus on specific provisions and parts of the 1990 Act which will need to be applied, as modified, in relation to heritage partnership agreements.
Heritage partnership agreements are voluntary agreements between owners and local planning authorities designed to help them manage listed buildings more effectively and reduce the need for individual consent applications for minor or repetitive works. In response to the committee’s recommendation, Amendment 26F narrows the scope of this power to focus on specific provisions and parts of the 1990 Act which will need to be applied, as modified, in relation to heritage partnership agreements.
While on the subject of heritage partnership agreements, I should like to place on record the Government’s response to concerns expressed at Second Reading by the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, about the application of Section 16(2) of the 1990 Act. Section 16(2) ensures that, in considering applications for listed building consent, special regard must be given to the desirability of preserving the listed building and its setting. Under new Section 26B(2)(f), the Secretary of State has a power to apply or reproduce any provision of Sections 10 to 26 and 28 of the 1990 Act, including Section 16(2), for the purposes of heritage partnership agreements.
I therefore assure noble Lords that we fully intend to reproduce Section 16(2) in the regulations we will be making in relation to heritage partnership agreements. We also undertake to consult on those regulations before they are made. I very much hope that this will reassure the noble Baroness about the points she made at Second Reading. For those reasons, I hope that noble Lords will be in a position to support Amendment 26F. I beg to move.
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