Clause 171
Planning Bill
3:47 pm

Jacqui Lait (Shadow Minister, Communities and Local Government; Beckenham, Conservative)

I do not think that I will get terribly far with my objections to the clause. I have already asked whether the draft regulations will be available for the Lords to consider, as we have not had them, and received a fairly dusty answer.

I think that we are signing a blank cheque in the legislation. I am concerned that the House will have no input into the draft regulations, as we all know that it is, in effect, extraordinarily difficult to amend the regulations when they come before the House through the affirmative  or negative procedure. Therefore, I would wish the Lords to have draft regulations, so that they can have a positive debate on much of the detail that we have been unable to obtain from the Minister; although he has been slightly more co-operative than in previous sections of the Bill, and we are beginning to get a bit of a feel for the details. When the regulations do come forward to the House for approval, I hope that the Minister will put them forward under the affirmative procedure.

John Healey (Minister of State (Local Government), Department for Communities and Local Government; Wentworth, Labour)

I have two points to make. First, we will absolutely ensure that when the Bill goes to the other place, the Lords are fully informed about the development of thinking behind it, and that they have the maximum information possible, depending on the stage of the discussions and conclusions and any formal consultation required.

Secondly, as I indicated previously, we intend the major regulation-making provisions in this part of the Bill to be subject to the affirmative procedure. Whether through the negative or affirmative procedure, the House will get the chance to re-examine the provisions that may be proposed under secondary legislation.