Nigel Evans
Main Page: Nigel Evans (Conservative - Ribble Valley)
Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)
Order. This is a very short debate, and I want to accommodate as many speakers as I possibly can. I know that it is not ideal, but I am going to introduce a four-minute limit, with the usual penalty time of one minute for each of the first two interventions. The winding-up speeches will begin at 5.40 pm.
Mr Raynsford
On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. In slimming down my speech to meet the four-minute time limit, I involuntarily forgot to mention my interests, which I normally declare at the start of a speech, so I would just like to put the record straight.
Chris Heaton-Harris (Daventry) (Con)
I am going to whizz through my speech and, I hope, leave plenty of time for my hon. Friend the Member for Rugby (Mark Pawsey) to make his comments.
I welcome the NPPF and many of its changes, because I was not happy with the original draft document, as the Minister well knows. The Minister knows also that in Daventry we are part of a joint planning unit, with South Northamptonshire council and Northampton borough council, and, although we might struggle to have a local plan in place in 12 months, we have an emerging joint core strategy across the area. If it were to be adopted as a local plan post consultation, I wonder whether it could be treated as a local plan, because it would afford those areas the protection that they would like.
I associate myself with the comments on the abolition of the regional spatial strategies and would very much like to be copied into the note—or if there is an answer today, even better—about the timing.
The Minister knows my concerns about the Planning Inspectorate, and I understand that he has written to a constituent of mine, saying that there is a chance of its duties, or the inspectorate itself, being reviewed soon, so I should like to hear something about that.
I would like a quick moment on renewable energy, my favourite subject. In previous answers to me, the Minister said that criteria can be set for renewable energy locally, but will he confirm that that could include the efficiency of such projects?
I have one point about wind farms, because, owing to the confusion in previous advice, noise has become an issue in planning. The night-time limit on mining is 42 dB, but using the same metric, we are going to allow wind farms to be noisier, at 45 dB, so could the Secretary of State confirm that the list of revoked planning policies in the NPPF includes by implication the annexes and companion guides to all previously revoked policies?
Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)
I express my gratitude to my hon. Friends for their courtesy. I speak as a member of the Select Committee on Communities and Local Government, which undertook an inquiry into the draft NPPF that came out in July last year.
It is important to understand the reasons for change, as people were not involved in the planning system. Many Members were councillors previously, and, of all the issues in which district councils were involved, the one that people understood least was planning. The system was very technical, with thousands of pages of guidance; house building was at very low levels, with 230,000 houses needed a year, and fewer than 100,000 delivered over an extensive period; the planning costs on businesses were significantly higher in Britain than throughout Europe; and the time taken to gain consent for planning was much longer here than elsewhere.
The hon. Member for City of Durham (Roberta Blackman-Woods) was rather uncharitable in her remarks about the draft NPPF, because it was precisely that, a draft and for discussion, but in 2011 it led to an alarmist response. People talked about it destroying the countryside, concreting over the green belt and being a developers’ charter. There was even criticism of its very brevity—something that was a real benefit of the proposals to condense planning issues.
The Government have listened, and it is pleasing for the Committee that 30 of its 35 proposals have been adopted. I was delighted that the Minister was able a couple of days ago to catalogue the many bodies whose attitudes have changed, not least those sporting bodies and, in particular, the Sport and Recreation Alliance.
I shall deal with two or three key provisions, the first being enshrining the community role. I am delighted that my constituency has one of the neighbourhood planning frontrunners, in Coton Park. It was believed that the measure would be a charter for nimbys, but that is not at all the case, because people’s attitude towards development depends on how the question is posed. If they are asked, “Do you want to see a field built on?” their answer will be very different from the answer to the question, “Do you think that we need to provide housing in this community and somewhere for young people to get a start on the housing ladder?” I am very pleased that the first neighbourhood plan to be brought forward, in Dawlish, supports the development of housing. It shows that the fears of many people have been allayed.
The NPPF enshrines also the importance of the local plan. In a Select Committee hearing, I asked the Minister, “What took precedence? The presumption in favour of sustainable development or the local plan?” and his response was categorical: decisions must be made in accordance with the local plan. The local plan is supreme, and I am delighted that my local authority has had its local plan in place for a number years. I fail to understand why so many authorities have been tardy in putting their local plans in place. When development proposals come forward under the new regime, the first criterion will be how they stack up against the local plan. Authorities must make plan making a greater priority, rather than trying to manage the development of their area by development control.
Not only does the NPPF maintain existing provisions, but in many respects it enhances them. We now have additional protection for gardens, which recognises that gardens are green. That will do away with a lot of the garden grabbing. I am pleased that the proposals—
Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)
Order. I apologise to the hon. Gentleman. I call Mr Jack Dromey.