Part of Planning and Infrastructure Bill – in the House of Commons at 6:00 pm on 9 June 2025.
Paul Holmes
Opposition Whip (Commons), Shadow Parliamentary Under Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
6:00,
9 June 2025
Actually, I will say a few words. Why resist the temptation to say a few things?
I thank the Minister for his hard work in leading the Planning and Infrastructure Public Bill Committee and all Members who served on that Committee over the past few weeks. He spent a long time in Committee saying that he would reflect on a number of really important points that hon. Members across the political divide had made, but he has done no such thing. He said that he has reflected and that he will also reflect after the events of today and tomorrow, but he has made no substantive changes to the Bill based on the real and genuine environmental concerns of many Members across the House.
I do not intend to detain the House too long, because I know that I have a winding-up speech, but we are worried about the centralising zeal of this Government when it comes to planning, as I said on Second Reading. We are worried about the erosion of the powers of locally elected, democratic politicians to make decisions about their local areas, serving their local people.
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