Planning Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 9:30 pm on 12 November 2008.

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Photo of Lord Patel of Bradford Lord Patel of Bradford Government Whip, Government Whip 9:30, 12 November 2008

My Lords, I will first consider Amendment No. 142, in the name of my noble friend Lord Berkeley. While we fully recognise the role of new rail infrastructure in supporting development and agree that CIL should support railways where required, we do not think that the amendment is necessary because Clause 208(2) already provides coverage for rail infrastructure.

Railways are already covered at two levels in Clause 208. First, railways are, on any ordinary view, infrastructure and, secondly, they are transport facilities, which subsection (2)(a) explicitly covers. I hope that that explanation addresses the issue sufficiently.