Clause 40
Planning Bill
9:15 am
Dan Rogerson (Shadow Minister (Arts, Culture and Heritage), Culture, Media & Sport; North Cornwall, Liberal Democrat)
I join hon. Members in raising the issue of time constraints. As the hon. Lady has just said, we are dealing with well-resourced and well-funded companies or public bodies that are pursuing development and have recourse to legal and planning advice, and although we might not want to talk in confrontational terms they are up against local people and individuals who do not have such advice. To expect those local people to fall in line with a tight time scale of 28 days is asking a great deal.
Factors such as periods of illness or the pre-consultation stage happening during the height of the holiday season, when people could be away for two or three weeks, could affect someone’s ability to respond. If the whole point of the pre-consultation stage is to ensure fairness, openness and that everyone has a chance to have their say before moving into the formal application, we ought to allow greater time to get it right.
Reflecting on the evidence that we received before we began our clause-by-clause deliberations, hon. Members will remember that the gentlemen who represented National Grid and power transmission said that for them the key was to know when an application would be decided. They need to know the timetable so that they have some sense of hope that the application would be resolved at some point. It does not necessarily have to be done in five or nine months or whatever, so we do not have to focus too much on driving forward the time scale; the important thing is that people are aware that there is a time scale and will work to it. With that in mind, I hope that the Minister will consider this and future amendments that address the time scale and its impact on people who have to live with the development for a long time, and ensure that they can play a full part in the pre-application consultation.