Clause 2 - Regional planning bodies
Planning and Compulsory Purchase (Re-committed) Bill
4:15 pm
Mr Keith Hill (Minister of State (Housing and Planning), Office of the Deputy Prime Minister; Streatham, Labour)
I can reassure the hon. Gentleman, but let me develop my argument first and then we shall come to that matter.
If the Secretary of State could not withdraw recognition of an RPB, we could be faced with an RPB that was wholly unrepresentative, and failing to take a strategic regional view. Derecognition is ultimately and properly a decision that should be made by the Secretary of State, but that will not happen in a vacuum, or without prior discussion with interested parties. Any unreasonable use of those powers could be subject to judicial review. We will not act in an arbitrary way. In the unlikely event of derecognition being required in the future, I undertake to publish the reasons for it at that time.
Now I come to the hon. Gentleman's point. Those powers are necessary for the situation as it will be when the Bill is enacted, but when elected regional assemblies are established the circumstances will be different. We propose that an elected regional assembly should have statutory responsibility for preparing and publishing the regional spatial strategy. If Parliament agrees to that, it will be for Parliament, not the Secretary of State, to withdraw that responsibility through primary legislation. The circumstances will be completely different.