Phil Woolas (Minister of State (Local Government & Community Cohesion), Department for Communities and Local Government; Oldham East & Saddleworth, Labour)

For the benefit of the Committee, it may be worth noting that the bids or the proposals that have been made are all public documents. It is incumbent on us to put all the material on the website and publish it for the House.

The point of the hon. Member for North-East Bedfordshire was well made. An authority has to show that there is broad public support for its proposal. He asked whether there was enough time for an affected district or authority to respond and show that it has public support. The Government will judge such proposals across the whole of the affected area, not   only within the area that is proposed. It will be incumbent on the proposing authority, as well as the responding authority, to show the size of public support. That is a fair point because it reflects the top-down approach.

There is a balance between having a window of opportunity that is adequate for due consideration and a period that would be destabilising in the extreme for local authorities. I reassure the hon. Gentleman that public support for the proposal—both from the authority that is putting it in and the affected authorities—is a criterion that we shall use.

See this speech in context