Growth and Infrastructure Bill
Debate between Lord McKenzie of Luton and Lord Trefgarne
Lord Trefgarne
My Lords, I apologise to your Lordships that I was not in my place when my noble friend Lord True opened this debate. I absolutely support what he is proposing in this amendment. I think these proposals are little short of outrageous and, in the area where I live, will result in a change in the control of the local authority.
Lord McKenzie of Luton
My Lords, I have added my name to this amendment and we are wholly supportive of it. We have heard from the noble Lord, Lord True, a devastating critique of the Government’s proposals, strongly supported by the noble Lord, Lord Tope. We have heard the practical and professional considerations from the noble Earl, Lord Lytton, about what they mean in practice. Indeed, the noble Lord, Lord Elton, described a typical garden, and that is exactly the situation in large areas of Luton that were built in the early part of the previous century and sometimes before. The noble Lord is absolutely right that neighbours can impact dramatically on the quality of life, and the Government’s proposal for permitted development rights is actually facilitating that.
In many ways this is a very modest amendment, more modest than that which my noble friend Lady Donaghy is going to move in a moment. It focuses only on development within the curtilage of a property. It operates from January 2013 and is not proposed to be retrospective to any significant degree, and it is consistent with the principles of localism, which seems to be a core matter.
The noble Lord, Lord True, and others referred to what will undoubtedly again be the Government’s defence on this: Article 4 directions. We will come on to that again when we debate the following amendment. Is it still the position that the Secretary of State’s general approach to making an Article 4 direction, as set out in paragraph 4.23 of planning policy guidance note 15—I am not sure that policy guidance note still exists or what may have replaced it—is that,
“permitted development rights should not be withdrawn without clear justification”,
such as where a real and specific threat of development is being carried out that would damage an interest of acknowledged importance? If those are the criteria by which the Secretary of State acts, that would not be a defence in many situations that have been envisaged. That reference may be slightly out of date, but it would be good to hear something more up to date from the Minister.
At the end of the day this does not prevent anybody who wishes to have an extension in the rear garden from seeking planning permission in the normal way. Perversely, if permitted development rights had been withdrawn by an Article 4 procedure, you could not get fees for that planning application. However, it is perfectly possible that people will go through the normal process, so this is not denying anyone any rights.
It is a pity that we come to this at this hour. I am not sure what the noble Lord is going to do, but it would be well worth testing the opinion of the House when it is full because I think there would be very strong support for the noble Lord. I hope that at the very least we will hear from the Minister that the Government will take away the tenor of this debate and agree to look at the issue before Third Reading.