I will start with two general points. I give credit to Margaret Curran for extending the time for considering the bill to longer than we have ever had, but it has clearly still not been long enough. We must face the fact that major bills need more time. We needed a third day to consider the bill at all properly. It is not appropriate to hear a constant barrage of comments from the chair to the effect that members have only two minutes and that they must hurry this and that. We must examine the timetables.

We must also examine a growing tendency: the bill has followed the pattern of many recent bills in that no non-ministerial amendments have been accepted. That is not in the spirit that many people supported in establishing Parliament, which was to be more consensual, to try to reach agreement and to co-operate. We must consider that, because the Executive does not have a monopoly on wisdom.

I will vote for the bill. I became interested in the subject and listened to many people who know much more about it than I do. I produced a pamphlet that mostly set out my interpretation of their views, which I converted into amendments, all of which were defeated. I may figure in "The Guinness Book of Records", because I had 70 or 80 amendments defeated at stages 2 and 3.

An opportunity to be more radical has been lost. However, I give due credit: the ministers and their civil servants have produced a bill that will achieve a huge improvement on the status quo, so I will support it.

Finance does not figure in the bill, but unless finance is adequate, we will not achieve the improvements that we want. There must be training, including on-the-job training, and more planners must be recruited. Communities must have support in the form of teaching and advice so that they can participate. If it is done properly, consultation costs money, so we must have real commitment to it and we must encourage communities to be more positive and creative and not to just be negative and oppose proposals.

Above all, we must restore public confidence in the planning system. As I am sure many other members have, I have received heartfelt pleas from people who have had really bad experiences of the planning system. Ministers must ensure that their well-intended provisions deliver improvements, which will mean that people gain the confidence in the planning system, which they do not have at the moment.