Clause 6
Planning Bill
2:30 pm
Dan Rogerson (Shadow Minister (Arts, Culture and Heritage), Culture, Media & Sport; North Cornwall, Liberal Democrat)
I thank the hon. Lady for that point of clarification. My feeling was that we should put a time limit on the NPS and my suggestion was to review it annually. Amendment No. 73 is a probing amendment.
Amendment No. 74 is on the related issue of an NPS being suspended. If something comes to light, as is set out in clause 10, which leads the Secretary of State to feel that an NPS should be suspended, it is not a trifling matter. There might be applications in the pipeline on which a great deal of expense and community anticipation are hanging. As the rest of the Bill seems to be quite fond of a period of 28 days for everybody else to conform to, I thought that the Secretary of State should have to answer after 28 days as to why a suspension remains in place. It might be slightly mischievous of me, but I felt that it would be useful for the Minister to clarify in what circumstances he envisages an NPS being suspended, how rare that might be and how soon it would be back in place or an amended NPS brought to the House for consideration. This issue is important because crucial applications could be before the IPC in that time.