Clause 6
Planning Bill
2:30 pm
Jacqui Lait (Shadow Minister, Communities and Local Government; Beckenham, Conservative)
We are moving on to some of the more arcane detail of bringing national policy statements into being. The clause deals with the review of the statements. The amendments would ensure that once a national policy statement is in place, it is fit for purpose whenever a new planning application emerges. Subsection 6(1) bothers me because it states:
“The Secretary of State must review each national policy statement whenever the Secretary of State thinks it appropriate to do so.”
I look forward to hearing what the Minister has to say about this. The problem is that
“whenever...appropriate to do so”
could be, and is likely to be, a reaction to a planning application. Any review process will, of necessity, take time. A continuous review and an annual report, which we are proposing, would allow the NPS to be always up to date.
Having said that, I should not like the Minister to think that we expect legions of civil servants to sit and read national policy statements and all the technical papers and advice involved in major infrastructure projects on a daily basis, but there ought to be a mechanism whereby technical literature and developments are under continuous review. That way, as soon as there is a new development that could have a bearing on an NPS, it would be flagged up to the Secretary of State and the review could begin at that stage rather than later.