My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have participated in a far-ranging debate on many important issues covered in this group. I turn first to Amendment 6, in the name of my noble friend Lady Cumberlege and the noble Lord, Lord Shipley. This is an area of importance. Planning inspectors are appointed by the Secretary of State to decide planning appeals on his behalf. They are not, as perhaps the impression was created at times, random individuals making arbitrary decisions. I wholly accept that there is an element of mystique here and that it would be good if we were able to demystify it. It is a bit like debates we have had recently in relation to judges: these people are taking decisions at arm’s length, based on a body of law and in accordance with legal procedure. They are properly qualified and should be supported. Planning inspectors make decisions in accordance with the national planning policy and the development plan, which includes, of course, any in-force neighbourhood plan, unless material considerations, which we touched on earlier, such as those relating to nationally significant infrastructure projects, indicate otherwise.
Amendment 6 would create a situation where all appeals which are contrary to the local development plan must be dismissed. Amendment 6A would prejudice proper consideration at appeal of how national and development plan policies should be applied. I do not accept that it is helpful for planning inspectors to be
told, in advance of any deliberations, what their conclusion should be. I accept that that is probably not the intention of the amendment, but it is dangerously close to the effect the amendment would have. Nor should we tell planning inspectors how to exercise their discretion in terms of the weight attached to particular matters in the consideration of an appeal. I would also guard against what would appear, to some extent at least, to be the inconsistency of arguing, as at times we have been, understandably and correctly, for proper local planning procedures and localism and then, when we do not like it, saying that the centre needs to intervene and this is what the Minister must do. We have to consider a proper balance here. That said, I understand some of the issues that have been raised and I assure my noble friend Lady Cumberlege and the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, that the White Paper commits us to taking forward a proper procedure and giving proper weight to planning appeals. I accept that there is something to look at here and we are continuing to look at these issues with my noble friend.
I turn to Amendment 6A and some of the questions raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Pinnock, in relation to brownfield land and the green belt. She will know, because we discussed this in Committee, that there is a lot in the housing White Paper about the green belt. A lot of things are currently being processed in relation to brownfield land and I assure noble Lords that we are bringing in regulations this April—it may be later but I will correct that, if I am wrong, in a letter to noble Lords—for brownfield registers, which every local authority must complete and which will include appropriate brownfield sites identified for possible housing. We expect that housing to be delivered and there will be percentages, which, again, I will outline in the letter, that have to be delivered within this Parliament, up to 2020. So there is much happening there. We have provided loan funding for developers, through the home building fund, which has an emphasis on brownfield land as well.
Furthermore, as the White Paper makes clear, constraints on development on green belt land remain constant. The White Paper, which I do not have in front of me, says that before even looking at green belt land you have first to consider denser provision of housing which may be appropriate. We know that London, for example, is the least densely occupied capital city in western Europe. I think that Madrid is four times as densely populated. Denser housing does not sound attractive but in terms of where we are it could well be an attractive option that we should look at. Also, building on brownfield land is identified in the White Paper, as is co-operation with other local authorities to see whether something can be done if there is not sufficient housing supply in one area. So we do regard green belt land as sacrosanct. If I may, I will pick up more details on that in a letter to noble Lords, because I had not anticipated this and some of my figures may not have been absolutely accurate in relation to brownfield and green belt land.
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Turning to Amendment 40, in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, and the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, Clauses 1, 2 and 3 of the Bill, together
with provisions in the Housing and Planning Act 2016 and the recent Written Ministerial Statement on neighbourhood planning address the concerns which the noble Lords raise, making this amendment unnecessary. The Written Ministerial Statement referring to a three-year supply is to deal with the specific problem where a neighbourhood plan has identified sufficient housing and that has not been taken up in the local plan. I do not think that there is any inconsistency here but it is a fairly technical issue and, again, I shall set out in a letter why that is the case. I do not think that there is any discrimination on this point—it is to deal with the specific problem where there are neighbourhood plans and they need this relief. There was a wide, cross-party welcome for this on that basis.
The amendment seeks to make it a requirement that neighbourhood planning bodies are consulted on future planning applications in their area. I can confirm that the changes brought in by Section 142 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016, together with the new Clause 2 in the Bill, render this amendment unnecessary. Additionally, existing legislative requirements, in Regulations 25 and 25A of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015, set out that once a parish council or neighbourhood forum has been notified, the local planning authorities must not determine the application before they have heard from either the parish council or neighbourhood forum to confirm they will not be making representations, or that their representations are received and, in both cases, that the statutory 21-day period has elapsed. Local planning authorities must take into account any representations made by the parish council or neighbourhood forum.
Finally, the amendment would require local planning authorities that are minded to grant planning permission against the recommendations of a neighbourhood planning group to consult the Secretary of State first. It is already the case that anybody, including neighbourhood planning groups, can ask the Secretary of State to call in any planning application. In my letter to noble Lords on 7 February I gave more details about the policies of the Secretary of State in this regard. For the avoidance of doubt, I can confirm that each request is considered on its individual merits and the Secretary of State’s policies do not preclude him from calling in or recovering any application for his own determination, should he deem it appropriate. The noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, may have been referring to appeals; that is a different position and I accept that there, the only remedy would be judicial review.
The critical point, which I made in Grand Committee and I make again, is that this amendment sends the wrong message. We need to trust locally elected decision-makers and professionally qualified planning inspectors, rather than insist that difficult decisions on the planning process are taken by central government. The essence of what we are trying to do here is localism and trusting localities. I appreciate that there is work to be done on that—as my noble friend Lady Cumberlege will be the first to say, and I agree—but we are engaged in that process.
The noble Lord, Lord Shipley, raised the point about local planning authorities and their own facilities, which I know has been an issue. As I say, the Secretary of State has a discretion to call in any power. Local authorities should have Chinese walls in place; they should make sure that they are not in any way making a decision about their own property without a proper Chinese wall between those selling the property, as it were, and those making the decision. Again I will cover how that Chinese wall operates in the system: I think there are appropriate safeguards, although I appreciate that this is a very material point, but I will cover that in a letter ahead of Third Reading. With the assurance I have given to my noble friend Lady Cumberlege and the promise of a letter taking up those points I have not addressed in the debate, I ask my noble friend to withdraw the amendment.