Oral Answers to Questions

Kerry McCarthy Excerpts

Monday 10th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Pickles]

Certainly. When new things are to be brought in, I think that it is appropriate to have a consultation and, in some cases, a referendum. The most important thing about localism is that it is about passing powers not only to councils, but to local communities.

[Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)]

In my constituency we are currently campaigning against a planning application for a new drive-through McDonald’s. I hope that it will be rejected on the normal planning grounds of noise, pollution and so on, but does the Minister think that the local community should also be able to reject such applications when they are very close to local schools?