Greater London Authority Bill

I thank the Minister for that answer because it contained a lot of valuable stuff that we will have to analyse. I was pleased that she accepted the principle of Amendment No. 87. I shall make a few comments on some of the things that have been said. The noble Baroness mentioned that it is not just London, although it was discussed a lot. Members of the Committee know that I represent an area just outside London, in Essex. I must tell the Committee that all the boroughs and counties around London have formed a unit that, at the moment, I am likely to chair, which will deal with the problems of London housing, London itself, the M25 and all the other associated matters. Because of the increased powers of the Mayor and with all the authorities around London, we feel that an all-party group—it may not be quite so all-party after last week; I have not worked that out yet—will be working together to deal with some of the problems. I was pleased to hear the noble Baroness say that not only London is affected. There is also the Thames Gateway, which stretches into Essex and Kent, and the M11 corridor—the Harlow expansion—which caters for London. People have talked about London house prices, but a one-bedroom flat in Chelmsford now costs £200,000. An estate has just been built in the village adjacent to mine where four-bedroom houses—admittedly they are on a nice bit of land—cost £1.5 million each. So London prices are applying not just in London but are spreading throughout the whole south-east. Much of the problem is that too much bureaucracy is being built into the whole system. I would say that, wouldn’t I? The noble Baroness was not the Minister in charge when we dealt with the recent planning Bill, but we gather that there will be another such Bill. Planning permissions have virtually dried up because of local development frameworks and various other things. Generally, not many planning permissions are being given for housing anywhere. We are obviously resisting the number of houses that our area might be expected to take over the next 15 years, but building will dry up because not enough planning permissions are being given. Therefore, whether we are talking about London or the areas around London, in the next few years houses will become more expensive because, if the economy stays fairly strong, not enough will be built to meet demand due to the planning system. This situation desperately needs to be looked at. I am afraid that I am going to be very critical here in relation to a local problem. We would have built some affordable housing in Basildon but I am afraid to tell the noble Baroness, Lady Ford, that English Partnerships has delayed it by five years because of the bureaucracy attached. I wrote to the Chancellor at the time that he was talking about affordable houses being built. I am all for affordable houses and will build as many as I can in Essex, provided we can reduce the amount of bureaucracy involved. That is what we are trying to do through some of these amendments. We believe that the Mayor must have a strategic plan and that boroughs should provide their share of affordable housing. We are where we are after 10 years of a Labour Government, and, as a party, we are looking at how we can build more affordable houses in the future. This is an issue that concerns us all, whether we are talking about a London borough, the City of London, Greater London or all the areas around London. I was disappointed by some of the comments today because I think that we are more committed to building affordable housing than virtually anyone else. It is just a case of reducing the amount of bureaucracy, making the system simpler and getting the necessary planning permissions and the money. The road and school infrastructure costs are now around £20,000 per unit, and I am told that the costs of drainage and water and so on are also £20,000 a unit. So it costs £40,000 for one unit before the building starts, and getting the money for the infrastructure will become increasingly difficult. As with a lot of the Thames Gateway, many of the houses that we are talking about will be built on the flood plain, and that will create difficult problems and issues that will have to be overcome. We all want to get on with this, so let us ensure that in the amendments and the legislation we create the framework for the Mayor to have the strategic plan and the boroughs to deliver on it. The boroughs will deliver more because they are the local groups, just as the towns were delivering in the areas around London. I am sure that we will come back to this matter. We have a lot of comments to make and there will be further debate. I shall withdraw the amendment today but I am pleased that the Government are to accept Amendment No. 87. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. [Amendments Nos. 77 to 90 not moved.] Clause 28 agreed to. Clause 29 agreed to. Clause 30 [Local development schemes]: On Question, Whether Clause 30 shall stand part of the Bill?