Clause 14
Housing and Regeneration Bill
12:45 pm
Grant Shapps (Shadow Minister, Communities and Local Government; Welwyn Hatfield, Conservative)
I draw the Minister’s attention to Government amendments Nos. 23 and 27, which are connected. Amendment No. 23 refers to
“the functions concerned instead of, or concurrently with, other persons”.
Will the Minister define who “other persons” are in that context, as it seems to be missing from the description? Government amendment No. 27 might reveal something of the answer, to give him a helping hand. It refers to relevant functions of London borough councils and the common council of the City of London. I suspect that those might be the “other persons” described.
The concern is that these proposals could set the HCA up in direct competition to others, such as the London Development Agency and the Mayor of London. That conflict could take many different forms including direct competition. The end concern is that there could be delay and confusion about who ultimately is responsible. We have good evidence that, when that happens, it causes all kinds of problems. One has to look only as far as the Thames Gateway to see the kind of mess, confusion and delay that can occur when the lines of authority are not clear. Perhaps the Minister could explain those two points. One is about who the “other persons” are in Government amendment No. 23 and the other is about Government amendment No. 27, which seems to set up conflict. Is that a deliberate move? Is that the intention or is it intended that the HCA take on additional powers and ride over the responsibilities of the local authorities?
I note that in Sir Simon Milton’s evidence to the sitting on 11 December he says:
“There is a suspicion on the part of some councils that the view will be that if you do not deliver what the Government tell you to deliver on housing numbers your planning powers will be removed and given to the HCA. That would be completely unacceptable to local government as a whole.”——[Official Report, Housing and Regeneration Public Bill Committee, 11 December 2007; c. 6, Q5.]
In addition to that point, Government amendment No. 27 also raises the question over the powers of the London Development Agency and the Mayor of London, and how they will interact.