Clause 31
Greater London Authority Bill
5:00 pm
Tom Brake (Shadow Minister, Department for Communities and Local Government; Carshalton and Wallington, Liberal Democrat)
This morning we had a full discussion of the risks associated with a one-man planning authority. In an intervention, I invited the hon. Member for Surrey Heath to speculate on the scenario of a Mayor with a financial interest in a particular application. I did not want to give the Committee the impression that I was impugning the present Mayor’s probity, but I think that we need to prepare for all eventualities. It is our business to tackle hypothetical situations, hence the need for the amendment to ensure that the process is totally transparent.
I have served as a local councillor on two councils. The first was Labour Hackney in the late ’80s, where little was done to promote affordable housing and council keys were sold to people who were not legitimate tenants. More recently, I served in the London borough of Sutton. I know the pressures that local councillors face when they are asked to consider planning matters in which they are discouraged from entering into any discussion with developers. Councils must have a full and open consultation process and go overboard in providing their residents with information about planning matters. If they do not, God forbid, the residents’ response will be very strong indeed. The amendment would make the process public by ensuring that everything is fully documented, all the documents in which decisions are based are in the public domain and everything is open to scrutiny.