Clause 54 - Wales Spatial Plan
Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill
4:45 pm
Mr Don Touhig (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Welsh Office; Islwyn, Labour/Co-operative)
Clause 54 introduces a statutory framework for the National Assembly to prepare the Wales spatial plan. It provides a statutory basis for the innovative work already undertaken by the Assembly in producing the first Wales spatial plan. The plan will set out the broad pattern of development and land use most likely to secure the Assembly's stated policy objectives.
The plan will place a statutory duty on the Assembly to prepare, approve and publish a spatial plan for Wales. There will be no Welsh equivalent to the regional planning bodies in England. The Assembly will fulfil that function. It will be required to carry out full and widespread consultation on the plan—it has a good record on public consultation. Consultation will take place across a range of organisations in the public and private as well as the voluntary and environmental sectors.
The clause prevents the Assembly from delegating the function of approving the plan. The Assembly will be required to keep the plan under review and revise it when necessary. Wales is not a large country and does not have the huge population to which the hon. Member for Cotswold referred earlier in our debate. However, the proposal is a coherent strategy for dealing with planning throughout Wales. It is the right approach to adopt to tackle our difficulties and reform our planning system.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 54 ordered to stand part of the Bill.