Clause 67
Planning Bill
3:00 pm
Dan Rogerson (Shadow Minister (Arts, Culture and Heritage), Culture, Media & Sport; North Cornwall, Liberal Democrat)
I understand the argument put forward by both the Minister and the right hon. Member for Skipton and Ripon. However, it depends where one is coming from on this issue. If we want the commission to build up the reputation that the Minister is talking about, it might help to have a collective responsibility, which is unfashionable nowadays. My concern is that such allegations will be made anyway. If two or three members of a panel are looking at an application within a certain sector, it may well be that, because of their expertise, they find themselves on another panel considering another application of a similar type. People will start to read into that. They may say, “Mr. Smith was on the last panel and that decided that, and this one has decided that.” It might help if people can base whatever they say on evidence rather than supposition. I do not think that we can stop potential criticism of the panel. It is more likely to be unfounded or founded on supposition rather than the facts. I will not press the amendment to a vote, but there could be concerns about opacity in the decision taking of a commission or a panel.