Housing and Planning Bill

Stephen Hammond Excerpts

Tuesday 5th January 2016 Commons Chamber

Finally, in addition to Opposition Members having real problems about the direction of the Government’s planning policies, some Government Members clearly have issues with the way in which local communities will have very little say in planning decisions that affect them. The hon. Member for Cleethorpes (Martin Vickers) and the right hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs (Nick Herbert) have tabled interesting new clauses that seek to ensure that local authorities, through parish councils or neighbourhood plans, have a greater right of appeal on planning decisions. We would seek to support those new clauses, and I hope the Minister takes them on board this evening. With that, I shall conclude my comments, after merely saying to the Minister that the planning system that he is putting in place will be his planning system, and we will judge him on it in the coming years.

[Stephen Hammond (Wimbledon) (Con)]

I was lucky enough to be chosen by the Whips to serve on the Bill Committee, and one great chink of light in the tunnel of that seemingly interminable yet fascinating debate was that one knew that we had Ministers who were listening to us on the Back Benches. I therefore say to the Chairman of the Select Committee and to the hon. Member for City of Durham (Dr Blackman-Woods) that it is quite wrong to say that Government new clauses 43 to 46 were suddenly dropped in today. This idea was spoken about several times in Committee, but most notably in the stand part debate on clause 102.

I want to address some of the issues that the hon. Member for Sheffield South East (Mr Betts) raised in a moment, but the reason why I particularly asked the Minister to think about this—he promised to do so and has therefore brought these clauses back today—was in direct contradiction to what the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas) said. She may be right that the planning system is not the only problem with generating new housing, but I cannot be the only Member of this House who has met local architects and local small developers, and forced the chief executive of the local council to come to a meeting because the failure of the planning department was stopping economic development and stopping housing being built. I am not talking about building by large developers or people sitting on land banks, but about building by small developers. That point was raised absolutely in Committee, when I, along with several of its members, asked the Minister to think about it.

I accept that this is a pilot and that there may or may not be some problems, but the Minister has clearly set out in these new clauses what he is aiming to do, which is to have not privatisation but competition between some planning authorities—and it is likely to be local planning authorities. As a London borough Member, I have encountered a development on a piece of land that is split between two local authorities, one of which is dragging its heels with the planning process. The application is now therefore going to the other local planning authority for it to move the process forward. If we want to generate the building of more housing, and we do, for it is a stated aim of this Government, it is not unreasonable to get some competition into the process, not the decision.

This Government and the Minister’s proposals are in no way undermining localism and the trust that is being put in local planning committees or local planning officers, who will make the final decision under delegated powers. We are seeking to allow small-scale developers to make applications and to get those processed more quickly. Opposition Members may have a number of reservations about that, but Government Members will be thanking the Minister for listening and introducing these new clauses, because they will give substantial help in reaching the target that we want small-scale developers to achieve. I urge the Minister to continue to reject the arguments made by the hon. Member for City of Durham.

I would have spoken to new clauses 32 and 36 but, having looked at the time, I think the House will probably benefit from my sitting down.