Planning Bill
4:15 pm
Robert Upton: I think that that is perhaps a question that you might address more fruitfully to Ministers than to me, because I have very limited influence here. However, as I understand it, the Government’s concern is to achieve not only a body that is seen as entirely free standing and which has a range of expertise, some of which may well come from the ranks of the inspectorate, which has a great deal of expertise to offer, but a body that is seen as being focused on all the major infrastructure decisions, as opposed to the vast generality of cases, which run very effectively through the planning inspectorate. That is the distinction. However, you should perhaps put that more firmly to the Secretary of State.
There is one other point that I would like to make on behalf of the institute. I would like to emphasise the significance of the national planning statements, rather than the mechanism by which the development consents are decided downstream. What gives us the chance to move forward in a big way is the requirement that there should be clarity and transparency about what is proposed and that the community, including the business community, has the chance to be engaged in it. That is potentially very important.