Housing and Planning Debate

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Housing and Planning

Steve Brine Excerpts
Thursday 6th September 2012

(12 years, 2 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lord Pickles Portrait Mr Pickles
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The right to light and the right to amenities are completely unaffected by this. [Interruption.] That certainly is not the case. All I am seeking to do is align my call-in powers with my recovery powers—to make them identical. I have always had the power to call in large developments by way of recovery.

Steve Brine Portrait Steve Brine (Winchester) (Con)
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The Secretary of State rightly says that the Government support locally led housing developments, and I welcome that. Can I be sure that no top-down decision will be made in respect of the CALA Homes site in my constituency, where the local council, Winchester city council, is doing exactly what the Government want by developing a locally driven and locally accountable local plan?

Lord Pickles Portrait Mr Pickles
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That sounds to me like the kind of world that we would all like to occupy. Obviously, I cannot prejudice any decision that I might make as a planning Minister, but that seems to me to be a happy place to be.