New Clause 1 - Purpose of planning

Part of Growth and Infrastructure Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 4:15 pm on 6 December 2012.

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Photo of Nicholas Boles Nicholas Boles The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 4:15, 6 December 2012

Veterans of previous Bills involving planning will know that we have been here before with this discussion, most recently during the passage of the Localism Act 2011, when the merits of clauses on sustainable development and climate change were debated at considerable length. They will also know—I notice a wry smile on the face of the right hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich—that successive Governments,  including the previous Administration, have resisted attempts to impose more specific sustainable development obligations on the planning system by legislation. There are, of course, good reasons for that.

First, policy can set out more fully and effectively the ways in which planning can and should contribute to sustainable development. Since the Localism Act, we have published the final version of the national planning policy framework, which makes absolutely clear our commitment to put sustainable development at the heart of the planning system. Indeed, the framework says that the purpose of the planning system is

“to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development”,

as well as setting out the Government’s view of what that means in practice. There is absolutely no need to duplicate elements of that strong policy framework in legislation. It would set an unhelpful precedent and have undesirable consequences.

The second reason why Governments have resisted more specific legal obligations on planning is the difficulty of applying them in practice. The debate in the Lords during the passage of the Localism Act highlighted a wide range of views about what a legal definition of sustainable development should embrace, from culture to spirituality. There was no consensus on the right formula; nor was it clear that any formula is right in all circumstances and for all planning decisions. The result of the new clauses tabled by the hon. Member for City of Durham would be disproportionate box-ticking to avoid the risk of challenge to decisions, rather than a considered approach to how planning can promote sustainable development and address climate change.

The third reason why the new clauses—I refer not just to new clause 1, but to new clauses 4 and 5 also tabled by the hon. Lady—should be resisted is that we already have a strong statutory basis for securing sustainable development and addressing climate change through planning. That is found in the existing duty under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 on those who prepare local plans to do so with the objective of contributing to the achievement of sustainable development; in the changes introduced by the Localism Act, which extends the same principle to neighbourhood planning; and in the requirements under the 2004 Act for local plans to include policies for mitigating and adapting to climate change. We already have legal requirements that the principle of sustainable development, including in climate change considerations, should run through all levels of plan making—strategic, local and neighbourhood.

The existing duties, reinforced by the clear policy in the national planning policy framework, mean that we already have the right tools in place to ensure a positive planning system with a clear and unambiguous mission to deliver sustainable development, including the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change, without the risk of the unintended consequences that would arise from the new clauses. I therefore hope that the hon. Lady will withdraw new clause 1.