My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Faulkner, for setting out the reasoning behind his amendment. As he indicated, this would place a sunset clause on some of the provisions in Clause 22 five years after commencement. The Government are, of course, not opposed to such sunsetting clauses in legislation where they are appropriate. In fact, new domestic legislation that imposes a regulatory burden on business is now required to include such a clause. This ensures that the regulation is removed when it is no longer needed, where it is ineffective or where it imposes disproportionate burdens.
However, in the case of Clause 22, I have already made it clear that our aim is to reduce burdens on business by limiting the use of SPP. I remind your Lordships that, if enacted, Clause 22 will mean that SPP will apply in future only to cases involving National Trust land, commons and fuel and field garden allotments, as well as certain cases involving open spaces.
For open spaces, the new provisions being taken forward in Clause 22 will cater for those limited situations where suitable replacement land is not available, or is available only at a disproportionate cost, and where there is a strong public interest in the development proceeding more quickly than would be the case if SPP was required. It will also provide for situations where open space is required only for a temporary purpose.
We are legislating on this now because we consider that it could bring benefits to the development of major infrastructure. It surely makes no sense to assume that such benefits will not be as important in the future and that a burden that had been removed should automatically be put back in place five years from now, or from when this becomes law.
I made it clear in Committee that in most cases our expectation is that developers will continue to provide suitable replacement open space land where such land is acquired, thereby avoiding the need for SPP. At the same time, there may be a small number of occasions, as the noble Lord, Lord Faulkner, indicated, where such replacement land may not be available and development should be able to proceed promptly without going through SPP. This is just as likely to be the case in five or 10 years’ time.
The usual post-legislative review of the provisions within a Bill three to five years after Royal Assent, which will include a preliminary assessment of its effect, will provide the opportunity to review the impacts of Clause 22. I therefore hope that, with this assurance, the noble Lord will be minded to withdraw his amendment.