Clause 40 - Statement of development principles
Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill
4:30 pm
Sir Paul Beresford (Mole Valley, Conservative)
I was surprised to hear the opening statement of my hon. Friend the Member for Cotswold, and to find myself agreeing with the hon. Member for Ludlow more than I would normally tend to do. I shall be tempted to support the Liberal Democrats' amendment to delete the clause, which seems to me to be one of those ''care in the community'' clauses. It exists to help people who have nothing better to do than plague local planning authorities. Under the provision, the LPA must issue a statement of development principles relating to development in the area
''if they are requested to do so by any person''.
I have mentioned that before.
I am sure that from his past experience, to which he keeps referring, the Minister will recall that there are individuals who have nothing better to do than plague the local authority, either because they wish to plague the authority itself, or because they wish to stop some form of development. The clause will enable such
individuals to thwart the normal procedures that one would expect.
New section 61D(6) would block any outline application for a similar development for three years—even an application from the owner of the site, who might not have been involved in the original request. That would lead to an unreasonable increase in workload for the LPA. Thinking of some of the individuals plaguing local authorities whom I have met around the country, I realise that that is absolutely guaranteed—unless authorities have some means of turning out a standard three-line response to the standard three-line letter from individuals requesting a statement of principles.
The provision is also a recipe for various interest groups to frustrate viable development. If we must have the clause, the provision should be discretionary for the local planning authority.