Clause 1 - Regional Spatial Strategy
Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill
9:30 am
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Cotswold, Conservative)
I was coming precisely to the point, Mr. Amess, which you have pulled me up upon. We have to put the matter in context and explain why the amendment is necessary. We want sustainable development frameworks and strategic environmental assessments to be included but the Bill does not go into sufficient detail. The regional spatial strategies will need to include sustainability and economic matters.
European directives require that the environment be considered in drawing up those plans, particularly on larger developments. I agree on the whole with my hon. Friend the Member for Spelthorne (Mr. Wilshire) that a Government should not interfere with an individual's right to do what he wishes with his property. The problem is that one person's development can be another person's deficit, so a
planning system and a regional spatial strategy are needed.
In respect of the regional spatial strategy, there is huge concentration in the powers not only of the region, but of the Secretary of State. Under clause 9(3) he can draw up the spatial strategy himself and revoke it at any time under clause 9(5). We need a system whereby we can be certain about what that spatial strategy should contain. The Opposition believe that it should contain a number of things, one of which is the strategic environmental assessment. After all, if one has not made an environmental assessment of the area, how can one come up with a sensible spatial strategy? It simply is not possible. One has to consider the environment. One has to consider sustainability and economic matters. Those are all important matters that need to be considered. There is no way that a spatial strategy could be drawn up without them. We believe, therefore, that they should be included in the Bill. That is why we have tabled amendment No. 71.
I will give specific examples of why an environmental strategy is needed within the regional spatial strategy. My hon. Friend the Member for Spelthorne mentioned the example of terminal 5. I know that we will discuss major infrastructure projects later in the debate, but a large-scale development such as that will affect a huge number of people's lives, and for that reason alone the environment must be considered.
People's lives will be affected by many aspects of such a huge development: noise, fumes, traffic and transport. Many issues affect planning decisions, and that is why we believe that there should be an environmental assessment. The Government will have some explaining to do if they resist the amendment. The Secretary of State has huge powers to direct what is in the spatial strategy. If, despite those powers, he still resists the amendment, there is something wrong with the system.
The development of a port has a huge environmental impact. One of the first Committees on which I served in this place considered the Cardiff Bay Barrage Bill in 1992. That was a highly controversial development. In those days there were no environmental assessments, and that project had a huge effect on the environment. I have been to that area since then. Had I known then what I know now about how the environment would be affected and how the finished product would end up, I would have voted for the Bill with alacrity. The whole area has been improved: development has taken place, the environment has been considered and, in many ways, enhanced by good planning. That is precisely our aim in the Committee, and it is the objective at the heart of the Bill—the regional spatial strategy.
We can all discuss the mechanisms to implement planning, but it is the content of the plans and strategies that is important. That is why we must consider the environment.
I urge the Minister to consider whether it would be possible to include such an amendment. However, even if the amendment is rejected here, part of our function is to flag up such issues for another place, so
that we may return to the discussion, and eventually improve the Bill by including in it this amendment or something similar.