My Lords, I hope that that is many years from now. I thank all noble Lords who have participated in our debate on whether Clause 12 should stand part of the Bill and I welcome the noble Lord, Lord Beecham, to his place. I fully understand the circumstances that kept him away earlier. We did deal with Amendment 43A, but I will endeavour to cover a couple of points on it as we proceed.
As noble Lords will be aware, the need for new housing is paramount to deal with some of the issues we are looking at, although of course I accept that there are many other circumstances we also need to consider relating to the Bill. The Government want to ensure that, once planning permission has been granted, we can move on as quickly as possible with housebuilding. At present this does not always happen because too many planning authorities impose unnecessary pre-commencement planning conditions. I accept that they are the exception, but on occasion they require applicants to take action before any works can commence that unreasonably hold up the start of building supply. This is unacceptable to the Government when we want to address the urgent need to increase the supply of homes. I think that noble Lords realise that there is a balance to be struck and a nuance that needs to be dealt with.
I have sought to indicate that this provision does not give the Secretary of State the powers being suggested by some noble Lords. New Section 100ZA(1) set out in Clause 12(1) does give the Secretary of State the power to make regulations, but it has to be read in the light of subsection (2) which provides that:
“Regulations under subsection (1) may make provision only if (and in so far as) the Secretary of State is satisfied that the provision is appropriate for the purposes of ensuring that any condition imposed on a grant of planning permission for the development of land … is—
(a) necessary to make the development acceptable in planning terms;
(b) relevant to the development and to planning considerations generally;
(c) sufficiently precise to make it capable of being complied with and enforced, and
(d) reasonable in all other respects”.
Subsection (3) goes on to state:
“Before making regulations under subsection (1) the Secretary of State must carry out a public consultation”.
This is not the wholesale provision which some noble Lords have been suggesting would give unfettered power to the Secretary of State. However, I accept that there are material considerations in terms of reaching a balance. I thank in particular the noble Lord, Lord Stunell, who recognised that. I can confirm that, as I indicated in response to the previous group of amendments, all of the issues raised are in the National Planning Policy Framework and so would be appropriate for the agreement of conditions with the developer.
Neither the Government nor any planning authority is in a position to force people to come to an agreement. The idea that we can somehow force either the local authority, as was perhaps suggested by some noble Lords or the developer, who may walk away at the end of the day because he is not happy with what the planning authority is saying, is wrong because we cannot—the National Planning Policy Framework has to be complied with. These are matters of consent and no Government would be able to do that, short of taking wholesale powers away and rewriting the law of contract, which we are not proposing. Indeed, I do not think anyone is suggesting that we should.
I am happy to go away and consider some of the points that have been made, but I come back to the point that we have to deal with inappropriate pre-commencement conditions. That is not to say that they are inappropriate as conditions—they may be quite appropriate as conditions, and many of those cited are—but they are not appropriate as pre-commencement conditions, and that is the point I keep coming back to. This is the intention of the legislation, as demonstrated by the wording of the new section. I do not accept that it is obscure or meaningless. I accept that there are considerations here but, if I may, I refer to the Government’s response to the consultation on improving the use of planning conditions. Admittedly, views were split on this, but it is not the case that all local authorities thought that the idea is a dreadful one. The majority—a bare majority, I accept—thought it was a good idea, with 44% either in complete support or supportive of the principle with reservations about the process. That was a majority in favour of the sort of action we are looking at.
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In addition, it is right that housebuilders and developers have highlighted concerns. Some of these are large developers, such as Crest Nicholson, Persimmon and Redrow, but some are not. Some are small and medium-sized, and we have to take that into account too. Problems with conditions are not confined to major housebuilders. According to research conducted by the National House-Building Council in 2014, 33% of small and medium-sized builders identified that the planning process and conditions present a major challenge to their business. The study reported that the time to clear conditions and the extent of those conditions were seen as serious barriers by 34% and 29% of respondents respectively. In short, this is not a non-existent problem. It is not the only problem in seeking to get houses built, but it is a consideration.
In opening the debate what seems many moons ago, the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, referred to the issue of land-banking. This is not specifically what the clause is about, and amendments have been tabled to other clauses that relate to land-banking. As I have indicated previously, the White Paper that is expected shortly will have things to say on that issue too. We are not saying that it is not an issue, but it is not what we are seeking to deal with in Clause 12—I plead guilty to that. Clause 12 seeks to do something else.
I turn now to some of the other points that were made. The noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, asked whether I seriously wanted local authorities to turn down applications from developers. I do not want that to happen, but if it is the appropriate thing to happen given the National Planning Policy Framework then yes, I do want it to happen. If it is the appropriate decision, of course I do. That is just as what happens now, when the vast majority of local planning authorities act within the law absolutely correctly, which is certainly what I want.
I thank my noble friend Lady Cumberlege for her kind words and her quote from Dickens. I think it is from David Copperfield rather than Great Expectations, but I hope she is not raising overly great expectations. I am most grateful for her kind words.
It is not true to say that the Secretary of State does not trust local planners. I appreciate that this is not personal, but I reassure noble Lords that the present Secretary of State certainly does.
The noble Lord, Lord Shipley, homed in on what may well be appropriate conditions, but I am not sure that they are appropriate pre-commencement conditions. That is the point I put to him—a point that was certainly brought up by my noble friend Lord Lansley, who said that the clause seeks to effectively consolidate best practice in statute. That is absolutely the case. Once again, my noble friend Lord True made a similar point.
As I indicated to the noble Lord, Lord Beecham, I have undertaken to go away and look at what the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee said in its report of 27 January. The noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, made a very good point about best practice guidance. I will take that away and think about it, if I may. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Cameron, for his comments in relation to the noble Lord, Lord Stunell, which I thought were very helpful.
With that, if I may, I will go away and look at some of the issues that were raised. They are understandable issues, some of which can be answered by perhaps a more careful reading of the legislation.
I think there will be a series of letters, but I am assured that the first one is awaiting my signature. It does not quite run to 59 pages but it is quite long and relates to the first day of Committee. The second will be ready at the end of tomorrow. I am not quite sure when the team and I will have a chance to have a look at today’s, but we will endeavour to do it after the debate. I ask noble Lords not to oppose the question that Clause 12 stands part of the Bill.