Clause 21
Planning Bill
12:45 pm
Tom Brake (Shadow Minister, Department for Communities and Local Government; Carshalton and Wallington, Liberal Democrat)
I thank the hon. Lady for her helpful intervention. She may well be right that the Mayor would have a major say, if not a total say, in the matter. Setting aside the current incumbent, in general terms the preference would still be for the Mayor, who has more democratic credibility—I remind her that I am talking in general terms, as I see that she is choking on her fizzy water.
In general terms, the Mayor has more democratic accountability than the commission will ever have. Therefore, it will be appropriate for him to take on that role in London. Indeed, I know that the hon. Lady’s and my own preferred candidate for Mayor have made it clear that they would seek to engage, at a very low level, with local authorities to ensure that there was a decent working relationship and that their views were taken fully into account.
I do not wish to prolong matters further, but simply to say that there is a strong case for the remit of trams and guided transport not to be taken up by the commission. We are not talking about nationally significant transport projects. We are talking about transport projects that are significant at a local or possibly regional level, but certainly not at a national level. I will listen with interest to the Minister’s explanation as to why he thinks that trams and guided transport should be included within the Bill’s scope.