Localism Bill

John Howell Excerpts

Monday 17th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Alok Sharma (Reading West) (Con)]

Hon. Members on the Government side of the House campaigned vigorously for more localism in the years leading up to the general election. We campaigned for returning genuine power to our local communities, and for allowing local people to have a real say over how their communities look and feel. Promoting localism is in the DNA of this coalition Government and a key hallmark of the Bill is reversing Labour’s 13 years of centralisation. This is a wide-ranging and ambitious Bill and I welcome it, but given the constraints on time this evening, I shall focus my remarks on the Bill’s proposals to reform the planning system.

During the general election, my Labour opponent spoke in favour of top-down housing targets imposed by unelected quangos and rubber-stamped by Whitehall bureaucrats.

[John Howell (Henley) (Con)]

He lost!

[Alok Sharma]

Indeed he did.

Labour’s clear message appeared to be that we cannot possibly trust local people to make decisions on planning at a local level.