Draft Greater Manchester Combined Authority (Functions and amendment) Order 2016

Ann Coffey Excerpts

Tuesday 13th December 2016 General Committees

[Ann Coffey (Stockport) (Lab)]

I have two or three questions. Greater Manchester is being provided with a great opportunity for better commissioning. At the moment, commissioning social care places in adult, care or children’s homes is done by individual authorities, and across the conurbation, we have ended up with an oversupply of places in children’s homes and an undersupply of provision in adult social care homes, which has led to a great deal of the problems that we are experiencing in adult social care.

What planning powers will be devolved to Greater Manchester? If we are to have effective commissioning, we need planning powers that consider applications for children’s homes in our areas, for example. Over the years, there has been a lot of debate, but no clarity, about whether an application for change of use to a children’s home must go before a local council and whether it constitutes C1 or C2 use. With the devolution of planning powers, will more power be given to the Greater Manchester combined authority to make planning decisions in respect of children’s home applications in the area? I would be grateful for the Minister’s comments on that.

I agree entirely with my colleague the hon. Member for Makerfield about who makes the decisions. The question of whether powers are vested in the leader of the council, the executive of the council or the council when it meets in its entirety is an important one. The Minister will be aware that in Stockport, we have no overall control in the council, so it is important to know who will make those decisions.

On the greenbelt, if a council, leader or whoever decides that they will not agree to the spatial strategy or to the designation of that amount of land in their council area as part of the offer to developers, what will happen if the council refuses and the developer then comes along and applies for houses to be built in that greenbelt area? Does the council still have the current level of protection offered to us through greenbelt policies, or will the fact that it has not agreed to the spatial strategy mean that developers are more likely than they are at the moment to get permission for development in the greenbelt area?

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[Andrew Percy]

The mayoral precept will be treated in the same way and should be identifiable on the bill in the same way as the policing element, but I will check on the wording to be clear with the hon. Gentleman.

As I said, the Government are well aware of the challenges in health and social care at the moment, which is why we have pumped in extra money, but that is not a matter for this order so I will not say anything more about it. The hon. Member for Stockport also mentioned health and social care—

[Ann Coffey]

And planning.

[Andrew Percy]

I will come on to planning in a moment.

On the point that the hon. Member for Makerfield made about the spatial framework, we are very clear in the order, which was drafted in agreement with the combined authority, that the spatial framework must be agreed by the Mayor and have the unanimous agreement of the combined authority. Combined authority representatives are all democratically elected in their local area. Local planning decisions will remain a matter for each local planning authority. The council’s local plans will still sit beneath the spatial framework, and they must align with the mayoral spatial framework in the same way as they do in London. Local decision making will still be for each local planning authority.

[Ann Coffey]

May I have some clarity on this? When the Minister says that the decision is going to be taken by the combined authority, will it be taken by the leader of the council, the executive of the council or the council as a whole? That is a really important question and I would welcome an answer on it.

[Andrew Percy]

It is for each local authority that is represented at the combined authority to determine its decision making behind that representation. If they wish it to be a vote of the full council or a decision of the council’s executive, that is a matter for them. When they are at the combined authority, they must act in unanimity. They are there representing their local authority. It is the same for any other decisions they take at a combined authority level. Decisions taken at the combined authority are not referred back to the local council for a vote on every single occasion. It is for each local authority to determine its processes.

[Andrew Percy]

On the one hand, the hon. Gentleman is telling me that the Government should not be telling local authorities in the combined authority what to do, and on the other he is telling me that I should be telling the combined authority members what they should do. We believe in local decision making, so it is for each local constituent council member at the combined authority to determine what its arrangements are for involving the broader council on that matter. The leader of the council is there as the elected leader of the council. Behind their individual authority, it is for them to determine their own process. It is certainly not for me to write to each of the constituent councils telling them that they should exercise this function in a particular way in their authority. It is for each council to determine that.

I think I have dealt with most of the points about where the spatial framework sits. It does not supplant the local plan; the local plan must conform to it, in the same way as it has to in London. This is very much about trying to provide a system in which people are collaborating across a broader geographical area so we can make good on the pledge and deliver more homes for people in Manchester, which we all agree about, and a more integrated approach to planning across this strategic area.

[Ann Coffey]

I would be grateful if the Minister answered the questions that I have asked specifically about planning powers, which are in the remit of this order. I am sorry the Minister is sighing, but this is an important issue. For example, in relation to children’s homes, the National Planning Act used category C1 and C2 which has created a lot of confusion over what children’s homes applications can be accepted or not. Will that devolution of planning powers continue under the present Planning Act?

The second question I asked, which the Minister has not answered—

[The Chair]

Can we have one question at a time?

[Ann Coffey]

I will ask it again, then.

[Andrew Percy]

I thank the hon. Lady for intervening before I sat down. I have been absolutely clear in responding to her. This is a strategic framework. It is the model we are broadly operating in London. Local planning decisions of the nature to which the hon. Lady refers will be taken by the local council in the same way as they are taken at the moment. The local plan, which has the particular detail in it below that strategic overarching level, will set out the framework for each individual borough. The decision will be the same as it is now, with the example the hon. Lady has highlighted.

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[Ann Coffey]

Can I ask a further question?

[Andrew Percy]

Because I am such a generous young man, I will give way one more time.

[Ann Coffey]

It is not a matter of generosity on the part of the Minister. These Committees are quite important in enabling the scrutiny of secondary legislation, so it is not a question of generosity.

In relation to the green belt, I asked a very simple question. We have a green belt strategy nationally. For example, a developer applied to build on green belt in Stockport and the council refused permission. If that developer then appealed against the decision to the Planning Inspectorate, it would not be granted permission because of the local plan. Is that going to be altered by the devolution of powers to Greater Manchester, and if not what is the point of a Greater Manchester strategy?

[The Chair]

Order. The Minister is quite generous, but the hon. Member for Stockport went on a bit.

[Ann Coffey]

I did—I fully accept that, Mr Turner.

[Andrew Percy]

I have answered the hon. Lady’s point a couple of times already. It is set out in the explanatory notes with this order that the issue of local planning decisions is unaffected and the devolution policy, as is also very clear in any of the background papers, makes no change to green belt policy. The protections that exist today will remain, and they are very high protections, as the hon. Lady will be aware.

If the strategic plan wishes to make any changes, as the emerging plan appears to do so, it is, of course, a matter for the local decision makers in Manchester to determine that. However, the protections that exist across the rest of the country will remain unchanged by this order. I commend the draft order to the Committee.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That the Committee has considered the draft Greater Manchester Combined Authority (Functions and Amendment) Order 2016.