My Lords, this amendment serves to exempt planning obligations attached to planning permissions on rural exception sites from the provisions of this clause. Some time was spent on the issue of rural exception sites during consideration of this clause in the other place. We have considered very carefully the arguments and evidence put before us then and since, and I hope that the resulting amendment will be welcomed by this House.
Rural exception sites are unique in that they are not allocated sites. They come forward when a landowner is willing to provide land to enable housing for local people to be built. They are sites, often in sensitive locations, where housing would not normally be permitted. Rural exception sites do not operate in a competitive land market. Landowners provide land at generally low value, with no expectation of market values or high levels of return. Planning obligations are used to secure the housing for local people. Clause 6 would introduce a risk of unsettling the practice of rural exception housing by introducing the possibility of a challenge to the planning obligation. I am concerned that this could prevent sites coming forward in the future. I hope that noble Lords will welcome the exemption that we are providing and I beg to move.