Town and Country Planning (Border Facilities and Infrastructure) (EU Exit) (England) Special Development Order 2020 (SI 2020/928)

Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville Excerpts

Thursday 11th February 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville (LD) [V]]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Naseby, and I thank my noble friend Lady Randerson for her extensive introduction and for ensuring this debate took place. This is a piece of legislation to bypass the normal planning system to create temporary inland border control posts, as everybody has said.

As an ex-councillor, I am concerned that the Government are taking planning powers to themselves without any of the consultation normally attached to planning applications. The border control posts appear to be in areas where the Government believe goods may enter the country because of their proximity to ports, coastlines or large inland waterways such as the Manchester Ship Canal. Twenty-nine English local authority areas that may be affected by these temporary planning permissions are listed in Schedule 1, including Devon, Dorset and Somerset.

Despite plenty of warning, no action was taken to be ready for exit from the EU. These temporary border posts are to be started immediately. The temporary permissions lapse on 31 December 2025, and all structures must be removed, and sites cleared, by 31 December 2026, when the sites will be reinstated to their former state. The construction industry will have to move fast to meet these deadlines.

We are left with the impression that these structures—which must not be higher than 25 metres and are, by their very nature, quickly constructed and easily removed —are likely to be self-assembled. The countryside is therefore likely to be littered with shanty-town structures acting as temporary border control posts. However, the facilities that the border posts must provide are extensive and likely to require large areas of land to accommodate facilities for drivers, vehicles and staff.

Given that the SI is subject to the negative procedure, today’s regret Motion is the only way in which Peers can raise their concerns. The SI gives very specific restrictions on what cannot be harmed by the structure or where they should not be constructed. They should not be constructed in a national park, near a historic building or in an AONB, and ancient trees are to be protected, et cetera. My noble friend Lady Randerson gave some examples of where the restrictions in the SI are being ignored. The noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, has also given examples of these new regulations being flouted.

Some of these control posts are likely to be some distance from the port of entry, so how will the Government ensure that traffic will not take a diversion to avoid inspection? There is, therefore, a possibility that animal products and plants will be allowed into the country without proper checks. This is in direct contradiction to the reassurances that the Minister, the noble Lord, Lord Gardiner, has given on numerous occasions during debates on statutory instruments around animal and phytosanitary plant movements. The public and the businesses involved must be assured that animal and plant health will always be protected from the import of disease and substandard products.

I note that in Schedule 2 there is mention of the movement of nuclear material and dangerous goods, which may not be moved through these border posts. Can the Minister tell us how nuclear material and dangerous goods will be transported and cleared if not through these border posts?

With regard to reinstatement, the site operator must submit their plan to the Secretary of State on or before 31 June 2025. This does not appear to allow sufficient time for approval before site clearance begins on 31 December 2025. Can the Minister please comment on this?

I am extremely concerned about the implications of this SI, and fully support the comments of my noble friend Lady Randerson. This SI drives a coach and horses through local planning procedures. I support the need for temporary border posts; however, this is not an emergency and is entirely predictable. It is a demonstration of an appalling lack of forethought. I look forward to the Minister’s response.