Housing: Brownfield Land

Lord McKenzie of Luton Excerpts

Thursday 5th February 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

My Lords, my noble friend raises an issue and a concern but, on the contrary, the Government—and, indeed, the national framework—are seeking to protect the green belt, national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty. Development in the green belt generally is very inappropriate and it would be permitted only in very special circumstances. Even then, that is very much in the remit of the local authority. Our green belt policy provides rigorous protection against all unwanted and unnecessary development.

[Lord McKenzie of Luton (Lab)]

My Lords, under Section 62A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, local planning authorities can be designated as underperforming where the speed or quality of their decisions has fallen below a prescribed threshold. The Government are proposing to extend this measure so that authorities could also be designated where they did not meet the objective of bringing forward sufficient coverage of local development orders on brownfield sites. It seems to have all the potential of a bureaucratic nightmare with a fluctuating baseline. How many councils are currently designated under Section 62A? Given the huge cuts endured by local authorities, disproportionately borne by services such as planning as councils strain to support adult and children’s services, what assessment have the Government made of the capacity of councils and the Planning Inspectorate to cope with the proposed arrangements?

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon]

I do not agree with the noble Lord. Our intention is to ensure the freeing-up of brownfield sites. With the objective that we seek to achieve on new homes—I know that it is an objective that he and his party share—it is important that we look across the country and ensure that all brownfield sites are released. The initiatives that we are taking reflect that. On the noble Lord’s specific questions about councils, I shall write to him.