Orders of the Day — Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill
5:31 pm
Mrs Barbara Roche (Minister of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister; Hornsey and Wood Green, Labour)
As the hon. Gentleman knows, the regional planning body includes many directly elected members or local councillors who, of course, are directly accountable to their electorate. He also knows that many Conservative councillors are strong members of those regional chambers. During my time at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and, before that, at the Cabinet Office, I have had the pleasure of meeting many Conservative councillors who are engaged with such bodies and make a strong contribution to them. I am not sure that they would recognise the views expressed by the hon. Gentleman.