Lord Tope
Main Page: Lord Tope (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)Growth and Infrastructure Bill
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Lord Best
My Lords, I rise to give fulsome support to this amendment. It addresses an issue which is high on the priority list of the Local Government Association, and I declare my interest as its president. I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin of Roding, on those remarks, which will probably have more weight than anything I say, but perhaps I could add a little elaboration to the excellent points already made.
During the passage of this Growth and Infrastructure Bill, noble Lords from all parts of the House have noted that a key element in the growth agenda is the necessity to reduce the housing deficit—the acute and growing shortage of the homes that we need—and as in all previous recessions, to use housebuilding as a key engine for economic recovery. If we returned to housing output levels of just a few years ago—even then we were not building enough—we would add 1% to GDP. That is enough to lift the country above the threshold for an officially defined recession. That is the reason why the backing in the Financial Times today came not just from the bodies representing housing providers, but the CBI and representatives of British business and industry.
At present, there are few levers to pull to get housebuilding going again. Another part of this Bill is based on the hope that allowing housebuilders to cut back on their obligations to provide affordable housing will persuade them to start work on stalled sites. I hope that that part of the Bill, following our earlier deliberations, and the Minister’s helpful clarification of the Government’s intentions, will prove fit for purpose. However, it seems unlikely to make a huge difference. It is, of course, about less not more affordable housing—fewer homes at prices or rents that the next generation can afford.
This amendment, in the names of the noble Lords, Lord Shipley, Lord Tope, Lord Jenkin of Roding and myself, goes for a bigger prize—a real opportunity to get a lot of homes built for those on more modest incomes, and almost miraculously, without recourse to large amounts of public subsidy. The amendment would allow local authorities, within constraints required by the Secretary of State, to borrow prudentially and to use the security of their housing assets. Thereby, they will make a significant local contribution to meeting housing needs and boosting the output of the construction industry.
Not so very long ago, councils were building 200,000 homes in a single year. By 1990, the annual output was down to 14,000 new homes in 1990. Today, it has dropped to virtually zero. In London, for example, just 80 new homes were built by local authorities in the years 2003 to 2010. The Government’s admirable self-financing housing revenue account reforms should now make possible a programme of an average of 5,000 new homes, from councils, for each of the next five years. This is a good start, but local authorities have the capacity to do far better.
Many councils have sites—plots of vacant land, redundant council buildings and all those unsightly garages on estates that can be demolished. They now need the opportunity to borrow and repay from rental income, and indeed to use cross-subsidy from house sales in mixed tenure developments to boost affordable housing numbers. Very often, they would achieve these results through working in partnership with a housing association or a private sector builder. What they need is the current artificial constraints on their borrowing powers for housing purposes to be lifted.
The Chartered Institute of Housing, with the Local Government Association and others, set out the case in a report Let’s Get Building: The Case for Local Authority Investment in Rented Homes to Help Drive Economic Growth, by John Perry. This shows that another 60,000 homes would be built over the next few years if the lending cap was lifted. This represents an addition of 10% on top of the private sector’s efforts and the important work of housing associations, and that would make a real difference.
Why would the Government not wish to see this modest extension of local freedoms taken forward at a time when there are so very few other ways of stimulating growth and tackling the backlog of unmet housing need? The answer is that the extra borrowing would add to the total UK public sector debt. However, since this borrowing can be comfortably repaid, it does not add to the structural deficit. Also, extra taxes, benefit savings and reduced expenditure on temporary accommodation, et al, would immediately return much of the extra spending. As London Councils and CIPFA have pointed out, the borrowing caps are unnecessary given that councils are not subject to caps on their non-housing borrowing.
Moreover, there is an anomaly here, which the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, has pointed out. In the other countries of Europe, this kind of borrowing by the municipalities is counted as trading and falls outside the definition of public expenditure used by the EU, the IMF and the OECD. By inventing borrowing rules that are unique to the UK, we are tying one hand behind our backs, as Professor Steve Wilcox of York University, the real expert in this field, has been pointing out for many years.
I understand the dilemma facing the Treasury. The problem is that raising the cap or changing the definition used in this country to mirror that elsewhere could send out the wrong signal. Even if it is entirely justified and sensible, the impression could be given that the UK is taking a more relaxed view of borrowing in the public sector. However, the sums involved are small. Council borrowing accounts for just over 6% of the total, and the estimated extra £7 billion that would be borrowed over five years, if this amendment was accepted, is a small part of local government borrowing. Managing the presentation of this change should surely be possible.
Turning to housing associations as the key providers of affordable homes has worked well but has relied on them borrowing heavily as grant levels have been cut back. Many will run out of borrowing capacity in about two years’ time and many of these so-called registered providers will not then be in a position to keep up their current modest but important level of development. We are going to need to bring on stream another source of investment in rented affordable housing. Fortunately, just such a source of investment is at hand.
This is a carefully calibrated amendment that enables the Secretary of State to be cautious in raising the cap for each local authority’s housing investment as he so determines. But it opens up the possibility of a real opportunity to get some significant growth going of the most positive sort, boosting the economy by some £20 billion in return for borrowing £7 billion, without the need for subsidy, raising taxes or burdening the next generation. I believe that the time has come for the benefits that this amendment could undoubtedly achieve.
Lord Tope
My Lords, my name is also on this amendment, which was so ably moved by my noble friend Lord Shipley and spoken to very eloquently and powerfully by the noble Lords, Lord Jenkin of Roding and Lord Best. That leaves little more to be said other than to repeat what has been said, and I shall try to refrain from doing too much of that.
The noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, referred to the letter in the Financial Times today. I have been able to supply the Minister with a copy of that letter during this debate. I think it is noteworthy to list the organisations that have signed that letter. Reference has been made to there being quite a number, but it would be useful to have the signatories on record. They are: London Councils, which represents all 32 London boroughs and the City of London; the British Property Federation; the Chartered Institute of Housing; the Home Builders Federation; the Local Government Association; London First; the Federation of Master Builders; the National Housing Federation; the New Local Government Network; the Royal Town Planning Institute; Shelter; and the Association of Retained Council Housing.
I read that out, deliberately, to get it on record and to show what a wide range of support the amendment has from local government, planning, and the housing sector. It is hard to think immediately of an appropriate organisation that has not signed the letter. There is now overwhelming support for the lifting of the borrowing cap. As the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, said, there are overwhelming reasons for doing so and it is hard to see why we should still be resisting it. As he and I recognise, the Minister who has the misfortune to have to reply to this debate is not the person who will be in a position to do anything about this. We all recognise that we are addressing our remarks, not to the Minister who will reply in a few minutes, but to the Chancellor of the Exchequer who has a speech to make next week. He must urgently recognise this need. The noble Lord, Lord Best, has referred to the message he is concerned about sending out. The message the Government want to send out, which is shared on all sides of this House, is that there is an urgent need to get building. That is the important message from this debate. The Bill must recognise the need for more housing. It must also recognise the need for growth which is in the title of the Bill and which many of us feel the Bill is not yet doing enough to achieve.
We therefore urge the Chancellor, through the Minister who will reply shortly, seriously to consider lifting the cap or, at the very least, sending a clear and strong message that that is the Government’s intention. Reference has already been made to the international consideration that the United Kingdom is the only country in the EU not to use the internationally recognised rules. If we were to do so, it would have very little effect in terms of the message to which the noble Lord, Lord Best, referred. I understand that, standing on this side of the Chamber, praying in aid of the European Union is not always to my advantage, but on this occasion the Government should give serious consideration to that. I hope the Minister will surprise us all, stand up and say that the Government are now ready and able to accept the amendment and that the cap will be raised in the way suggested. If that does not happen today, I hope we will see a more positive move in a few days’ time in another place. If that cannot happen now—I would need to understand in the next week or two why it cannot happen now—will the Government at least reassess the borrowing ability under the current cap? Will they speed up consideration of the consultation on the use of other means, such as using local government pension funds?
The Government want to send a message that they are serious about housebuilding. They also want building to start happening and to start getting building completions. If that is to be achieved in the period of office of the current Government, it needs to be happening this year. It is urgent. The amendment proposes an internationally recognised way of achieving that. I hope the Minister can give us some indication of support and that next week we will get a better and clearer indication from the other place.
Lord Smith of Leigh
My Lords, I support this amendment and congratulate the four noble Lords who put their names to it on their contribution. I declare an interest as vice-president of the LGA.
It is difficult to find much more to say, but I want to remind noble Lords of what has been said. The noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, made the point that this is important for its economic impact. As it concerns housebuilding, 92p in every £1 is spent within the UK, making it a very effective way of recycling money within the British economy. It has a strong multiplier effect. This goes to the heart of what the Bill is about. The provision would have a great social impact, because, as noble Lords have commented, we have not produced enough social housing in this country for many years now, with great shortages across the country. We need to do more on that. This provision would achieve it.
The financial arguments, too, are strong, because the provision would be almost cost free for the Government. They would not be committing any tax revenue, but it would impact on deficit reduction. Not only would it produce the tax revenue that the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, mentioned but it would reduce housing benefit payments, because, as people moved into social housing rather than the private sector, housing benefit payments would go down and fewer people would be stuck in temporary accommodation and so on.
The noble Lord, Lord Shipley, mentioned the bedroom tax. He is absolutely right that, in many parts of the country, the mix of housing is not right to meet the problems addressed by the tax. There will be pressure to build one and two-bedroom properties to do that. However, the bedroom tax will have a greater impact than that. It will have a financial impact on the HRAs of many authorities as people choose not to pay. In my own authority, of the 4,500 households which will have problems with the bedroom tax, more than 550 are in properties on which we have spent a considerable amount of money adapting to the needs of some disabilities. If those people have to move, we reckon that it will cost us more than £1.5 million simply to place them in a smaller property that meets the needs of their disability. Within the pressures on housing revenue accounts, the most flexible side will be new capital builds. Rather than building new houses, we might have to spend the money on adapting properties.
If we do not accept the amendment, or something similar, what will happen to social housing during the next few years? The noble Lord, Lord Tope, read out a list of organisations supporting the amendment, but the key thing is not the presence on it of the usual suspects from the local authority world or the housebuilding world, of whom you might say, “Well, they would support this kind of amendment, wouldn’t they?” but the fact that the CBI has recognised that it would be one of the most effective ways of stimulating growth in an economy which really needs it. That should give it a lot more weight.
I hope that the Government will consider this very carefully as a way forward. If they do not, I hope that my noble friends on the Front Bench will adopt it as a really good way of producing growth.
“(6A) Regulations may specify the minimum actions that the commons registration authority must carry out to bring the deposit of a statement under subsection (1) to the attention of persons likely to be affected.”
Lord Tope
My Lords, my noble friend Lord Greaves found today that he was unable to get to London and asked me to move his amendment, which with the leave of the House I rise to do. I shall endeavour to say roughly what my noble friend would have said, although not necessarily in the manner in which he would have said it.
This is an amendment to Clause 13, which inserts new Sections 15A and 15B into the Commons Act 2006. Their effect is to allow the owner of a piece of land that is not already registered as a town or village green to make a statement to the commons registration authority—a unitary or upper-tier council—which brings to an end any period during which persons have indulged as of right in lawful sports and pastimes on the land; that is, informal recreation, openly, without hindrance and without permission.
The result of making such a landowner statement is to bring to an end the right of anyone to make an application for registration of the land as a town or village green under Section 15 of the Commons Act 2006. However, under Section 15(3) of the Commons Act, there is a period of two years before that right comes to an end, in which such an application for registration as a green can still be made.
There was discussion in Committee on the question of how people would know that a landowner had made a statement under this new provision. Amendments were proposed by my noble friend Lord Greaves and the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie of Luton. In Committee, the Minister, the noble Baroness, Lady Hanham, made some very helpful commitments that,
“where a landowner statement is deposited with a commons registration authority, the authority will be required to publicise it”.—[Official Report, 30/1/13; col. 1602.]
The Minister assured the Committee that regulations will include this requirement but that specific publicity requirements are best set out in regulations rather than in the Bill. She added, equally helpfully:
“The regulations will require that commons registration authorities take appropriate steps to ensure that local people and other interested parties are made aware of the fact that a landowner statement has been deposited”.—[Official Report, 30/1/13; col. 1603.]
The purpose of this amendment today is to probe further the Government’s thinking on what are “appropriate steps”. In particular, will there be appropriate publicity in the local media serving the locality in which the land is situated, not just centrally in what might be a far-flung county authority—which might just be Lancashire? Will it include a physical notice on the land itself? Will it include notification of specialist organisations such as the Open Spaces Society and the Ramblers’ Association, as well as organisations representing landowners? I hope that the Minister can give these assurances today. I beg to move.
Lord McKenzie of Luton
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Tope, who seems overnight to have inherited the expertise of the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, in this area, pressed the point about assurances that we seek from Ministers. My recollection corresponds with that of the noble Lord—that in Committee we got assurances from the Minister about publicity that would be given to these registrations—and it would be helpful to have some further clarification on the lines proposed.
Lord Tope
My Lords, I thank the Minister. I reassure the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, that I most certainly have not acquired the expertise of my noble friend Lord Greaves overnight; indeed, I have not managed to acquire it since I learnt of this at lunchtime. I certainly claim no expertise whatever on the subject. I thank the Minister for his reply. Both I and my noble friend Lord Greaves will read it carefully. In the mean time, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Lord Tope
My Lords, I rise once again to move on behalf of the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, Amendment 40C and to speak to the other amendments standing in his name in this group.
These are amendments to Clause 14 and Schedule 4, which amend the Commons Act 2006 by inserting a new Clause 15C and a new Schedule 1A. Their effect is to restrict the right of persons to apply to register land as a town or village green on the basis that it has been used by persons for at least 20 years as of right for lawful sports and pastimes—that is to say, informal recreation, openly, without hindrance and without permission.
The new provisions end the right to apply for registration if a trigger event occurs. These are basically of two kinds: first, the publication of an application for planning permission on the land, or a similar action such as an application for development consent; or the publication for consultation of a draft development plan document—that is, a document that is proposed to form part of the local development framework or “local plan”—or a draft neighbourhood plan. In this context we welcome government Amendments 42 to 45 on neighbourhood plans, which appear to deal with some of our concerns in relation to those plans.
The trigger events are set out in the schedule. However, new Section 15C(5)(a) gives the Secretary of State powers to, “specify … additional trigger … events” by order. The purpose of Amendment 40C, therefore, is to ask the Minister to specify why the Government think they need these powers and what these further trigger events might be, and what the Government have in mind to use this rather draconian power for.
The other amendments are intended to assist the Government in their stated wish to align the system for registering greens with the planning system in cases where there is a published proposal for development, either as a planning application or as a draft of part of a local plan. Unfortunately, the proposals in the Bill do not do this. The problem is that there are two separate and different systems. The system for registering greens, set out in the Commons Act 2006 and rooted in the common law, is based on the facts of the case—whether the land has been used by persons for at least 20 years as of right for lawful sports and pastimes. It is based on the facts of past use of land.
Decisions in the planning system are a matter of policy and opinion about the future use of land. It is difficult to reconcile the two—to align them—but not impossible. The way this Bill deals with the matter is not to align the two processes, but to suspend one of them—the right to apply to register a green—when a trigger event occurs under the planning system.
We accept that the Government believe that there is a problem of misuse of the system of greens registration by some people in order to try to stop development, and that there is a weight of opinion behind this view. In Committee we moved amendments to probe the extent of this and its necessity. Now we are proposing ways in which both rights can be aligned within one process—the planning process—giving the Government what they want while retaining the effective right of people to put forward a view that a piece of land is a green, and to have that properly considered as part of the planning process. The amendments we have put forward suggest ways of doing this and could be taken individually. They are not necessarily a package.
Amendment 41B is the simplest, and just seeks to incorporate within the system of development management the question of whether a piece of land is a town or village green under the criteria set out in Section 15 of the Commons Act. It simply says that, where such a representation is made as part of the development management process, this question is a material consideration. Of course, like any other such representation it may be accepted or rejected by the relevant decision-making authority. It should not slow down the process of making the decision in any significant way.
The first part of Amendment 45A says that where the trigger event is the publication of a draft development plan document, which includes a proposal for a piece of land that has not previously been in the public domain, the trigger event should not occur until three months following the date of that publication. This may occur, for instance, if a last-minute change is made to a draft development plan document covering land allocation, as a result of representations made as part of a previous round of consultation on that question, such as on a housing land availability study. It would still allow a green registration application to be made. The second part of Amendment 45A will in most cases be covered by the government Amendments 42 to 45, for which I have already thanked the Minister. However, we recognise that this may be a step too far for the Government. So Amendment 45B states that if representations are made to a local planning authority or a neighbourhood planning body, as part of the normal consultations on a local plan or a neighbourhood development plan, that a particular piece of land is a town or village green, the authority must consider them having regard to the criteria set out in Section 15 of the Commons Act.
Although the appropriate authority would not have the power to designate and register the land as a green, applying the same criteria in this way would indeed align the two processes, which is what Ministers promised that they wanted to do, whether or not a trigger event has occurred. If the planning authority considers that the land qualifies as a green it could of course then be referred on to the commons registration authority for it to consider in the normal way. We expect this would be in a small minority of cases. However, the time taken to produce local plans would mean there is time for this process to take place. We emphasise that this procedure would only apply in plan making, which inevitably takes years rather than weeks, and not in the case of planning applications and the like which should be dealt with speedily.
These amendments are put forward in a positive way, in an effort to reconcile—indeed to align—the planning and green registration systems. In the disappointing event that the Minister is unable to accept them today, perhaps he can answer the following questions. There are six. If the intention is to align the system, what consideration can the planning bodies give during the plan-making process to representations that a piece of land qualifies as a town or village green, either as part of the local plan process or a neighbourhood plan? Secondly, if a planning authority or neighbourhood planning body considers a piece of land to be a green on the basis of the criteria in Section 15 of the Commons Act, what action may it take to promote or pursue that view?
Thirdly, what precise action in the submission and consideration of an application for planning permission or development consent will constitute publication, and so constitute a trigger event? Fourthly, in the case of a draft development plan document, would the trigger event be the publication of a report to the local planning authority which included the details of the DPD; would it be the formal publication for consultation of the DPD following a council decision to publish a consultation; or when?
Fifthly, could the publication, for consultation or otherwise, of any prior reports intended to form part of the evidence base for a DPD but not forming a draft DPD as such, be the trigger event for those purposes? Lastly, can the question of whether a piece of land is a town or village green, having regard to the criteria set out in Section 15 of the Commons Act or otherwise, be a material consideration in the case of an application for planning permission or development consent?
I hope that the Minister will at least be able to provide clarity on those detailed but important questions. If he cannot do so today, perhaps we could return briefly to them at Third Reading, to allow him to do so. My noble friend Lord Greaves has promised me that, if that is the case, he will table only a simple amendment enabling those answers to be given. I beg to move.
Lord Best
My Lords, I urge caution about accepting the amendments tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Greaves. Any watering down of the Government’s proposals would be cause for concern. The Government’s propositions are supported by the Local Government Association, the National Housing Federation, Shelter, the Home Builders Federation, the British Property Federation, the Federation of Master Builders and, indeed, the Country Land and Business Association.
I mentioned during Committee the case of the 50-acre site on the east of York which, on the grounds that it had been used, without permission, for dog walking over the past 20 years was the subject of a village green proposal. The intention was simply to prevent, or, rather, to delay—as a 50-acre village green was never a realistic proposition—a much-needed mixed-tenure housing development by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and its housing trust, of which I declare a past interest as its previous chief executive. The delays that then ensued, the legal fees and the staff time over several months were costly and wasteful. The objectors to the housing scheme—which, I am delighted to say, is now being built, and a wonderful development it is too—were simply taking advantage of well intended legislation that, sadly, lent itself to such abuse.
The Government’s intent, which, I believe, their proposals will achieve, is that false claims are swiftly revealed. It would lead to all genuine registrations receiving fair and robust consideration and maintain the primacy of the democratically elected local plan. I urge caution in accepting the amendments tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Greaves.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
My Lords, once again, I thank my noble friend for his sterling performance as my noble friend Lord Greaves. My noble friend Lord Tope has articulated eloquently the concerns that my noble friend wished to raise. I also thank the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, for indicating that he will not press Amendment 41A, and note his comments.
Turning to Amendment 40C, one of four amendments tabled by my noble friend Lord Greaves, we have debated the order-making powers previously, and why they are required, so I will avoid going into too much detail. My noble friend Lady Hanham explained in Committee that the Government propose to bring other planning procedures within the scope of the reforms for registering greens: local development orders, neighbourhood development orders and Transport and Works Act orders. My noble friend also explained that we would consult on our proposals. We have also, as my noble friend said that we would, responded positively to the recommendation of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee that new Section 15C(5) should be subject to the affirmative procedure. Consequently, Parliament will have the opportunity to scrutinise any draft order proposed in the light of public consultation.
Furthermore, my noble friend Lady Hanham pointed out in Committee the need for additional terminating events to ensure that all outcomes in plan making are covered. We want to avoid the situation where an exclusion on applications to register land as a green fails to lift even when there is no longer an active development proposal. That would be contrary to our policy and unfair. Amendment 40C, tabled by my noble friend Lord Greaves, would stop such change from being made without requiring further primary legislation. That cannot be practicable.
I turn to the proposed new clause in Amendment 41B. I appreciate why my noble friend Lord Greaves wants to ensure that the potential value of land as a green will be considered as part of the planning process, but there is no need for the amendment to secure this intention. In considering an application for planning permission or for development consent, the recreational value of the land concerned is already capable of being a material consideration. Material considerations will relate to the development and use of land in the public interest.
I am sure that the House wants to move on, and I will turn specifically to answer at least some, if not all, of the questions raised by my noble friend Lord Tope. One question that he asked was, if a planning authority or neighbourhood planning authority feels that a land should be a green, what should it do? Where that is raised with a planning authority or the neighbourhood planning body, they should bear that in mind when considering a planning application or taking forward their draft plan. If they want the land to be kept open, they should not be supporting development on the land. If there is no development proposal, residents can also apply to register the land as a green.
My noble friend raised a couple of questions about trigger events. First, what would constitute a trigger event? Only the courts can give an authoritative interpretation of statute, but the intention in respect of the applications for planning permission and development consent is that a trigger point takes effect at whatever is the earliest of the required publication steps. The power in Clause 14(1)(3) could, if necessary, be used to make amendments to clarify when any of the trigger or terminating events are to be treated as having occurred. He also asked about trigger points arising in respect of draft development plan documents. For local plans the trigger point is when a draft plan is formally published by the local planning authority for consultation prior to being subject to an independent examination. The local community will then have an opportunity to make representations in support of or in opposition to proposals in the draft plan and to engage in the examination process.
Finally, a question was raised on the publication of any prior reports that are not a draft development plan and whether they could be a trigger event. The short answer is no. The trigger event refers only to the publication of development plan documents. The publication of anything that is not a development plan document would not constitute a trigger event. If there are a couple of areas that perhaps I have not answered in the detail that my noble friend asked for in representing my noble friend Lord Greaves I shall seek to clarify that before the next stage. However, on the basis of the assurances and responses I have given, I hope that my noble friend is prepared to withdraw his amendment.
Lord Tope
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply. I reassure the noble Lord, Lord Best, that it is not my noble friend’s wish to water down these provisions, and it is most certainly not my wish to do so. I am content with the provisions as they are. However, I think that my noble friend made clear that his intention was to try to find a way to align two different systems here, and he has gone into characteristic detail on how to try to do that. As he said in what he described as his “more than usually concise speech”, he was suggesting ways in which to achieve this. Both he and I will read with care what the Minister said. I am grateful to him for the answers that he has given thus far. In the mean time, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Lord Tope
My Lords, I support my noble friend’s amendment. He referred to the fact that he is, in another life, the leader of Richmond Council. For many years, I was the leader of the council in the London Borough of Sutton and, indeed, am still a councillor there. For all those years there has been a usually friendly rivalry and some competition between the two authorities. Certainly within my party, Richmond seems to alternate every election between who is going to run the council; I am pleased to say that the electors of Sutton have remained more consistently true, at least for the past 27 years, as to who would run the council. That competition continued back in the summer, when the Government made their announcement, as to which of our authorities would be the first to condemn it. I think on that occasion the noble Lord, Lord True, won the competition but probably only by hours rather than by days.
We are at one in finding the Government’s proposals incomprehensible and in condemning them roundly. What are they for and what are they seeking to achieve? That condemnation is obviously not confined to two London borough councils but is, as far as I am aware, universal throughout local government, regardless of which party happens to be in control of the council. This is a unified view, across local government, which is very strongly against the Government’s proposals.
That is due first to incomprehension. This is being put forward in the context of growth, but does anyone seriously imagine, as the noble Lord has explained very well, that allowing extensions into back gardens will make a significant difference to the growth of the nation? Of course it will not; it is laughable. What it will bring about a considerable growth in is neighbour disputes. I can think of no single measure more likely—indeed, one might say more designed—to set neighbour against neighbour, particularly when they find that there is actually no court of arbitration. They would expect the local planning authority to be able to hear both sides of the case and to make a judgment, as with the normal planning process. When neighbours find themselves in this position and discover that that power has been taken away from the local planning authority, and with it therefore their right to make representations to anyone, I can think of little better designed to cause neighbour upset and to damage community cohesion, for no purpose whatever. I am very keen to support the noble Lord, Lord True, on this.
The noble Lord made reference to the Government’s explanation that Article 4 directions can deal with this. As he has rightly said, that is a slow, expensive, bureaucratic and cumbersome route, which is unlikely, frankly, to make very much difference at all. He is quite right and I support him wholeheartedly. We had felt until recently that the Government were at least starting to listen—commendably so, and we have said much of that today—to move and to be willing to search for compromise. Therefore, I am very disappointed to learn from the noble Lord, Lord True, as he said when introducing this amendment, that his attempts at compromise—that is what this amendment is; I do not think he or I would pretend it is what we want—have been “spurned”. That was his word. We are very disappointed with that. I hope that when the Minister replies, we can get at least some comfort from him that spurned is too strong a word, the debate and argument are still open and it is not going to be as bad as it presently seems.
However, I certainly have no hesitation in supporting my noble friend and the leader of Richmond Council, knowing that both London borough councils will, for once, be united between the two parties in agreeing with both of us.
The Earl of Lytton
My Lords, I support the thrust of this amendment because my professional work puts me at the sharp end of the fall-out from precisely this type of policy. As the noble Lord, Lord True, has said, we risk in effect a flip-flop from avoiding the regulation of the colour of front doors and replacement windows to no control at all. If ever there was an example of parliamentary process being a blunt instrument, I suspect this is one.
I have problems with this area of government policy in its cumulative effects. We seem almost to have a good cop Government wishing to deregulate, which I can understand and sympathise with, and conferring additional free development rights on householders. However, I am bound to say that I do not see the noble Lord, Lord True, and the LGA in the opposite camp of bad cop either. One of the great virtues of planning policy, among all the things that I, we and clients regularly curse about the intrusiveness of it, is that it has actually protected the built and the semi-natural environment of the urban and rural landscape. It has done so in such a way that our European neighbours come over here to see how we have managed to do it all the years since the post-war era when the first planning Acts came in.
The real possibility here is the increasing urbanisation of domestic back gardens and the materially increased density of that whole built environment. That is not without consequences, as the noble Lord has consistently pointed out on this and previous occasions. I recently attended a number of meetings at the Minister’s old stamping ground, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which has a basements working group. Your Lordships might wonder what basements have to do with all this, but I can tell you that a lot of basements are constructed in back gardens, so the thing is not entirely without its relevance.
A number of things came through there which I think were very interesting and that have to some extent informed my views. First, there is a risk that open space between buildings for light, air and privacy might be compromised, and the only thing that stands between the general rights of permitted development and getting a fair balance between neighbours is some intervention by the local planning authority. It is a matter of scale and proportion, but of course it has visual and amenity consequences. Beyond that, in valuation terms, the mercantile gain for one person who happens to construct their particular scheme might lead to the erosion of the visual appeal and consequential value of neighbours’ property, unless, as I say, they are carefully regulated and kept in fair proportion.
Technically—this is where I pick up the point that the noble Lord, Lord Tope, made—it brings additional pressures on the limits of property ownership, particularly in relation to boundaries. We already have a substantial amount of that in the more expensive parts of inner London boroughs. Property values as an impetus already cause serious friction between neighbours. I know this because a good deal of my professional work relates to neighbour disputes.
That might not matter if we had a land registry title plan that was a precise guide to ownership. Unfortunately, such plans do not provide that. Even in an urban area of 1:1,250 mapping scale, there is an error factor, as set out by the land registry own guidance, of plus or minus 1 metre on the ground either way. On a plan of that scale, that represents 0.8 millimetres thick, plus or minus. It is no idle suggestion, therefore, that this might increase neighbour disputes, because the process of establishing precise ownership is sometimes clear but sometimes very far from clear, and the registered title does not help.