My Lords, I will back off from my amendment in relation to local authorities out of deference to the representation from the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, although I should say that I back off for today, because that is not the perspective that we have of certain aspects of the work of local authorities. However, I shall back off if the Minister will take on board the obvious thrust of these amendments: both those in the group we are considering at the moment and those in the previous group, which the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, introduced, are concerned with the fact that the strategy has to take into account broader issues than road provision has done in the past and that it will need to have that written down and enforced. It is all very well for the noble Baroness to say, “Yes, as a matter of course those who are planning the roads will take into account these other factors”. No, they will not. In the past, we have seen that such factors have clearly not been taken into account.
Not the least significant of all those factors, especially for many British people, is the question of increased emissions. We have seen precious little activity, as far as roads are concerned, on emissions. An attempt in the previous group of amendments to introduce that into the categorisation of the work which the new system must take into account was rather brushed aside.
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I am afraid that we have a different position on these issues. I know that the Minister’s task is to get this legislation through. I know that it has an important remit, which we all share, so she will get it through. We have clearly indicated that we are not opposed to the Bill, and I speak on behalf of my colleagues elsewhere as well when I say that. But why should we be faced with a situation where the Government says, “This is an important development in the infrastructure of this country and its planning for roads, but please do not bring in additional complicating factors which may make the task more challenging”? We shall keep challenging them on the complicating factors. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.