My Lords, I hear what the noble Lord has said and what my noble friend has said in moving the amendment. I appreciate very much that noble Lords wish to make sure that local authorities are able to adapt national permitted development rights to their own circumstances. Indeed, it is an important element, which we recognise, that national development rights have an effect on different areas, urban and rural. The noble Lord did not speak to Amendment 46AA, which would be the other side of the coin: opt in or opt out. Therefore, I will address only Amendment 46.
There has been some tweaking, with noble Lords saying that I will use Article 4 directions in my response. Not surprisingly, I am going to do so. As the noble Lords, Lord True and Lord Tope, will be well aware, an Article 4 direction can already be introduced to remove specific permitted development rights in a defined area. Those areas can be very small: only a few houses, a conservation area, one street or two blocks of houses. They can be tailored in a way that puts a permitted development into a defined area.
There was a suggestion that if an Article 4 direction was put forward it had to be submitted to the Secretary of State for a decision. It does not have to go to the Secretary of State for approval. The Secretary of State would intervene only where the power was being used unreasonably by the local planning authority. One would hope that that would never take place as the planning authority would have to consult local residents before implementation. It is not sensible just to wipe out the Article 4 directions. It is one of the lines that local authorities can take and we would expect them to do so where necessary.
With regard to the proposed permitted development right and its effect, we would expect neighbours to talk to neighbours about this and to have some interest in what they are going to say. Local authorities are also able to put conditions on permitted development if it is thought to be justified.
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