Clause 14 - Local development scheme
Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill
9:15 am
Mr Tony McNulty (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister; Harrow East, Labour)
I am not entirely sure about the detail and substantial parts of the process, but what will prevail will not be terribly different from what the hon. Gentleman has described. All schemes must be sent in draft to the Secretary of State, and it would not be terribly useful on the part of the Department if there were not the informal feedback and engagement about which the hon. Gentleman has talked. Prescribing that within definitive time limits and going on to define the process in the Bill would not be terribly helpful, and I can assure him that the overall timetables will be a feature of the regulations after commencement of part 2.
We have already dealt with much of the meat of the amendments, but it is more appropriate to deal with those issues by the flexible route of regulations rather than in the Bill, given that we are entirely unaware of the scope or substance needed to deal with local development schemes that fall down, are inappropriate or need a lot more work. I accept what the hon. Gentleman says, much of which we hope will be dealt with at the informal stage, in which indications can be given both ways. In those circumstances, we did not think it appropriate to include those sorts of time limits in the Bill, and I ask him to withdraw the amendment.