Clause 42
Energy Bill
11:45 am
Brian Binley (Northampton South, Conservative)
I rise to support my hon. Friend on this vital issue. He spoke in an earlier debate of the way in which other countries have tried and succeeded to get local support behind a given proposal. That exercise will be vital, not only in the creation of new nuclear power stations, but in the whole decommissioning process. We all know the type of lurid stories with no foundation in fact that can easily gain credence at local level and rip through the general populace like wildfire. They do immense harm before even the process has begun. We must be aware of that kind of local feeling and the damage that it can do to a programme of this kind. I fully support such programmes.
I will make a few points about the amendments. The local population will be consulted as part of the planning process. I know that the planning decisions will be taken elsewhere, but it is right to say that those decisions require, by law, a local consultation. I am always fearful of consultations specifically about planning. Anyone who has been in local government carries that fear with them for the rest of their career. Certainly, I have been scarred on a number of occasions by such operations. I want a more balanced view to be included in the whole consultation process.
My second point is to ask, if the Minister is minded to believe that local consultation is vital in a sense wider than merely the planning process, the level at which it will take place. It seems that the regional assemblies have been knocked on the head, to use a Northamptonshire phrase, and I wonder where that leaves us with regard to local consultation.
My third point relates to the geographical areas where quangos now control the planning process. A number of areas are designated, under the sustainable communities project, in which planning decisions are taken away from the local authority. I am concerned that we should have a proper debate that covers the planning process, as I am particularly concerned that that process does not include elected representative bodies. Bearing in mind that some of the sites might be in those areas, we must have a proper ability to talk at local level, which we might not get if we are consulting only on planning matters. I ask the Minister to consider that point as part of the appeal for a wider local consultation.
My final point is about time frames. I and many others here have suffered the difficulties of the Post Office consultation, although I do not wish to draw the Minister into that debate other than to say that many people in my area felt that the consultation was not well done. In fact, they felt that it was badly done. In the case of my constituency, the announcement of closures was made at the end of December but the Christmas holiday had not been taken fully into account. As we know, we now have a two-week holiday at Christmas, but the official period is sizeably smaller. Indeed, a six-week period itself simply was not long enough.
Given that there will be some form of local consultation through the planning process, I ask the Minister to give us an idea as to whether he might consider the matter again, with a more holistic view of consultation. My constituents and many others, I am sure, will want reassurance on the matter.