Clause 13
Housing and Regeneration Bill
12:15 pm
Lembit Öpik (Shadow Minister (Housing), Department for Communities and Local Government; Montgomeryshire, Liberal Democrat)
I beg to move amendment No. 98, in clause 13, page 5, line 12, after ‘(a)’, insert ‘subject to social and geographical considerations,’.
The amendment would introduce the words “subject to social and geographical considerations” into subsection (1)(a) so that it read:
“(1) The Secretary of State may by order designate an area in England if the
Secretary of State considers that—
(a) subject to social and geographical considerations, the area is suitable for development”.
The reason for the amendment is that I think that every Member of Parliament has experienced the frustrations of local communities who feel that social and geographical considerations—particularly social ones—have not been taken into account when a development is forced on them. Introducing the requirement for consideration will enable local communities genuinely to feel that their concerns have been heard. It should also be useful to the HCA and to the Secretary of State because, on occasions, that kind of consideration might prevent a social catastrophe or the misuse of ground because geographical considerations have not been taken into account. Had such wording been in place in the past, perhaps we would not have had so much development on flood plains—and we know the consequences of that.
I ask the Minister to provide his views on the benefits of explicitly introducing social and geographical considerations into the deliberations of the Secretary of State when making designation orders.