Localism Bill

Lord Berkeley Excerpts

Wednesday 20th July 2011 Lords Chamber

Amendment 167 not moved.

[Lord Berkeley]

My Lords, with the leave of the House, I would like to speak to Amendments 168 and 169.

[Lord Jenkin of Roding]

My Lords, the noble Lord is perfectly entitled to speak to an amendment that has not been moved because, as the clerks will tell one, an amendment belongs to the House. I have to say, though, that it is totally contrary to the spirit and conventions of this House that someone should seek to speak to an amendment that has not been moved. We cannot stop the noble Lord, but I hope that he will do so extremely briefly. I have a number of other amendments in exactly the same situation, and I do not intend to say anything about them at all.

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Moved by

[Lord Berkeley]

168: After Clause 124, insert the following new Clause—
“Planning permission for subterranean development
After section 75 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, insert—“75A Planning permission for subterranean development
(1) Any proposed development which extends below the ground level of an existing property shall be deemed to be “a subterranean development” and any person seeking to undertake a subterranean development must—
(a) commission a “Subterranean Impact Study” by consultants approved by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the impact of the proposed subterranean development upon—(i) subterranean ground conditions with particular reference to flowing and standing water; and(ii) foundations, footings and structure of any adjacent buildings and other buildings within a radius of 100 metres of the proposed development;(b) provide owners of any adjacent properties and of properties within a radius of 100 metres with a copy of the Subterranean Impact Study and enter into consultation with the respective owners during a period of not less than 90 days;(c) submit a copy of the Subterranean Impact Study to the relevant planning authority, together with the results of the consultation with relevant adjacent and nearby property owners, before submitting any application for full planning approval for the proposed subterranean development from the relevant planning authority;(d) seek the approval of the Secretary of State for the proposed subterranean development;(e) provide an appropriate warranty or bond and security for expenses to a value to be determined by a specialist advisor.””

[Lord Berkeley]

I wish to move Amendment 168 very briefly and to speak to Amendment 169. As the noble Baroness, Lady Gardner, said, the amendments have not already been debated, in spite of what it says on the groupings list. Amendments 170CA, 170CB and 170CE are not on the groupings list and they have not been debated either, so I hope that they will be debated at some stage.

All I was going to say in moving the amendment—in fact, I was hoping to speak to it after another noble Lord had moved it—was that I supported it. I was also going to ask the Minister whether and how it would apply to underground workings such as cracking. Cracking is the extraction of gas from underneath the ground: one drills many thousands of feet underground and pumps in high pressure water and gas is then extracted. This is a common occurrence in the United States at the moment. A lot of gas is extracted but a lot of houses are subsiding and being damaged as a result. I believe that the same process is being planned or has started in the Blackpool area. I am looking for information from the Minister on that as well. Whether I get it now or whether he writes to me, I do not really mind. I beg to move.

[Lord Selsdon]

My Lords, as it is my amendment and the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, is, I believe, a former member or director of the piggy-back club, I assume that he is piggy-backing. My amendment is too big to be discussed here. I consulted my party and it has very kindly given me leave to introduce a Private Member’s Bill which will cover all these areas. I would much appreciate it if the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, would co-operate with me. I should declare that I have lots of underground interests too.

[Lord Berkeley]

I am grateful for that remark and I look forward to further discussions with the noble Lord.

[Lord McKenzie of Luton]

I think it is a bit unfair to suggest that the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, was going to weary the Committee. I say to noble Lords that if the issue is a big one and they have other routes for having a debate, why put down an amendment? When amendments go down, we all spend time trying to get our minds around what the issues are so that we can respond. It wastes our time as well.

[Baroness Hanham]

My Lords, just about everything that could be said has been said on this matter. The noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, asked about gas extraction. I will have a letter written to him before the next stage so that he knows the situation.

[Lord Berkeley]

I am grateful to the Minister. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment 168 withdrawn.

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Moved by

[Lord Berkeley]

170CG: After Clause 124, insert the following new Clause—
“Matters to which local authorities must have regard
(1) When considering planning applications for, in particular, warehouses, distribution sites, ports, airports and airfields, local authorities must have regard to the impact on—
(a) businesses,(b) leisure facilities,(c) the provision of emergency services,(d) the environment, and(e) the local economy.(2) When considering planning applications which are expected to result in a significant increase in the use of local transport infrastructure, local authorities must have regard to—
(a) achieving the minimum disruption to local transport infrastructure,(b) achieving efficient freight access to businesses,(c) encouraging the use of sustainable transport,(d) ensuring pedestrians, disabled people and cyclists are appropriately provided for, and(e) possible alterations to the infrastructure to make use of future low-carbon transport.(3) Local authorities must adopt planning policies to protect transport routes which may reasonably be believed to have a role in providing low-carbon transport in the future.”

[Lord Berkeley]

My Lords, in general planning terms, this amendment seeks to establish how larger developments, which we discussed yesterday, fit into the local planning framework. Quite often, with big developments—ports, airfields, airports, warehouses, distribution centres or whatever, or even energy projects, that we have discussed at length—there are problems with the local facilities getting overloaded. It is very important that there is a link between the way that these big projects get permissions and what happens around them locally, which may or may not be subject to Section 106 agreements or other agreements.

Looking particularly at subsection (2) of this amendment, one can envisage a significant increase in the use of local transport and heavy goods vehicle transport. Therefore, it seems important to encourage sustainable transport here and also not to forget the needs of pedestrians, cyclists and disabled people and generally to encourage the use of low-carbon transport. It may be seen as an amendment to introduce something we have talked about before—general sustainable development. I hope that it is more than motherhood and apple pie and that the Minister, in responding, may say that it will all be in the national planning policy framework, which is now imminent, I believe. I will look on the website when I leave here and see if it is. It would be good to hear from the Minister whether these kinds of issues will be in the NPPF, or, if not, whether the Government look with favour on amendments such as this. I beg to move.

[Baroness Hanham]

My Lords, the noble Lord has introduced an interesting amendment which rustles between two responsibilities. If this were a very big application, such as those in the first part of the amendment—sites, ports, airfields—that would not be the responsibility of local authorities, that would be for the new planning inspectorates or commission. On the other applications, I think that that would happen already—it is all part and parcel of our planning considerations—and while we understand the concern about balancing the transport system in favour of sustainable transport, which the noble Lord mentioned, he should understand that is only part of what is included.

Many of these areas are already taken into account—I am trying to go back to my own limited experience from years ago—and most are things that the planning committee would be interested in, while the bigger applications will be dealt with by other means, although local authorities will, of course, be able to comment on them as they go along. I hope the noble Lord will withdraw his amendment.

[Lord Berkeley]

I am very grateful to the Minister for that response. She is absolutely right that on big projects, these things should be taken into account in the whole, but I still have a concern about something falling between two stools, if that is the right analogy. Perhaps I can have a discussion with her between now and Report, or read Hansard. In the mean time, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment 170CG withdrawn.