Clause 1 - Regional Spatial Strategy
Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill
10:45 am
Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Cotswold, Conservative)
Your reading of the amendments was a marathon, Mr. Amess.
All the amendments are intended to achieve a reduction in the Secretary of State's powers, with those powers being given to the regional assemblies. In some cases that might be technically possible, but as the hon. Member for Ludlow has admitted, in other cases and in terms of order making that would not be possible. A balance must be struck between the powers of the Secretary of State and those of the regional body. I would rather the Secretary of State than the regional body had the relevant powers, and I would rather the local planning authority had more powers. The present distribution of the powers of the Secretary of State, the local planning authority and the county council is just about right, which is why I am opposed to the Bill. There is, however, a balance to be struck and an argument to be had.
The hon. Member for Ludlow has done the Committee a service by proposing the amendments, although I am not sure that he needed to table so many in order to make the point and adduce the argument. He has provoked the discussion, but he is wrong. I would rather the balance rest with the Secretary of State, as proposed in the Bill. Therefore, if the hon. Gentleman intends to push the matters to a vote—I am sure that he does not intend that and I apologise for having to leave temporarily during his speech—I would not support him, although I understand the reasons for his proposing the amendments.