Clause 34
Planning Bill
6:15 pm
John Healey (Minister of State (Local Government), Department for Communities and Local Government; Wentworth, Labour)
I beg to move amendment No. 356, in clause 34, page 17, line 32, after ‘consent,’ insert—
‘(aa) consultation reports received by the Commission under section 32(3)(c),’.
Clause 34 requires the commission to maintain a register of applications for orders granting development consent and publish that register or make arrangements for its inspection by members of the public. As currently drafted, the clause requires the commission also to make applications received available for public inspection, along with any accompanying documents and information. That will ensure that the pre-application stage is transparent and open to everyone involved or interested.
The amendment will add the pre-application consultation reports to those documents that must be available for public inspection. As we said, those reports are referred to in clause 32(7) and, in short, cover the consultation carried out for a proposed application, the subsequent results and also the account that has been taken of the consultation’s results.
Overall, I hope that hon. Members will agree that that adds to the openness and transparency of the process. It ought to be a welcome amendment, and I hope that it will be.