Lord Kennedy of Southwark:

Moved by Lord Kennedy of Southwark

That this House regrets that the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development etc.) (England) (Amendment) Order 2021 (SI 2021/428) will remove the voice of local communities, result in a new swathe of poor-quality housing, and detrimentally impact the prosperity of high streets; further regrets that these changes have been introduced with insufficient parliamentary scrutiny and calls on Her Majesty’s Government to withdraw the Order.

Relevant document: 52nd Report of the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, Session 2019–21 (special attention drawn to the instrument)

My Lords, in moving my Motion that is before the House, I have a few brief words to say. I do not intend to detain the House for very long, and I intend to divide the House after my remarks.

We had a good debate last Tuesday with many excellent contributions from around the House, but I was struck that there was not a single contribution from the Government Benches other than from the noble Lord, Lord Greenhalgh. There was not one word of support for the position that the noble Lord was taking; it was non-existent. This is the party that talks local and talks about localism and community but votes to prevent local communities, councillors and people from having a say. That is wrong and that is why I tabled this Motion to Regret. I hope that, when the House divides shortly, it will pass that Motion to reflect how cross the House is with the actions of the Government.

I am confident that, when the noble Lord, whom I like very much, was leader of Hammersmith and Fulham, he would have been jumping up and down if a Government had tried to do what they are doing today, in denying local people their say and riding roughshod over their wishes. I hope that the House expresses its regret over the action of the Government. I wish to test the opinion of the House.

Ayes 260, Noes 229.

Division conducted remotely on Lord Kennedy of Southwark’s Motion.

Motion agreed.