Greater London Authority Bill

This has been an interesting debate, veering wildly from the general to the very specific. Clause 30 relates to local development schemes prepared by London boroughs. These are their work programmes which guide them when they are preparing their new-style development plans. The clause is needed because it is about improving the process. It is not concerned with the content of plans, which is why we will have difficulty addressing the specific issues raised by my noble friend Lord Campbell-Savours. However, I will come to that later. The clause is essentially about process, which is why I will have to give a brief account of the process and why the clause is relevant to it. We have a plan-led system of planning in this country, meaning that decisions on planning applications are taken in accordance with the policies in development plans unless there are sensible reasons to do otherwise. Within this system is a hierarchy of plans, with national policies setting the context for regional plan policies, which in London’s case is the Mayor’s London plan, and local development frameworks having to be in general conformity with the regional plan policies. As the plans go through, they are accompanied by rigorous consultation and are independently examined. However, for the system to work effectively, it is crucial to ensure that borough development plans are up to date and are amended to reflect changes in policies at the regional and national level. Boroughs cannot always respond very quickly—London is generally in a better position than the rest of the country—but some borough-level plans have not been formally updated since the mid-1990s; they do not even reflect the first iteration of the London plan. The Government first sought to address the problem through the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 by introducing a requirement for local planning authorities to prepare a local development scheme setting out the documents that they will prepare as part of their local development framework—a suite of documents that address different parts of the process—their subject matter and the timetable for preparing the documents. The 2004 Act gave a power for the Secretary of State to direct changes to the scheme. Clause 30 takes this further simply to reflect the unique governance arrangements in London. It makes provision for the Mayor to be able to direct amendments to the boroughs’ schemes or to require the boroughs to prepare a revision to their LDS without having to ask the Secretary of State to do so on his behalf. To achieve that, Clause 30 amends the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 to require boroughs to send a copy of their draft LDSs to the Mayor at a time to be prescribed in regulations or when directed to do so by the Mayor. The power must be exercised personally by the Mayor and cannot be delegated to others, but it does not extend to the Mayor being able to direct the content of a borough’s development plan. It is simply about allowing the Mayor to ensure that policies dealing with the key policy areas in his London plan are brought forward by the boroughs in a timely manner. For example, if a borough is slow in developing an affordable housing policy, the Mayor can gee it up by using the power as a way of saying, ““We want that plan and we want it as fast as possible””. It is a question of keeping a watch on matters. The power applies to the sort of plans that the Mayor has a legitimate interest in being furthered. With regard to the circumstances under which the Mayor might make a direction to bring forward a plan that is slow or missing, our intention is that he may do so to ensure that a borough brings forward policies that reflect the London plan’s priorities for, say, regeneration of a particular area. However, the clause also requires the Mayor to have regard to any guidance issued by the Secretary of State when considering whether to issue a direction, and it requires any direction to contain the Mayor’s reasons for making it. He will have to take account of the resource implications for the boroughs and local priorities in carrying out that work. It requires a reality check. We expect directions to be used as a last resort, with discussion resolving differences wherever possible. The borough concerned must comply with the direction, subject to a power for the Secretary of State to direct the borough to disregard the direction or to give effect to it, subject to modifications. To allow the Secretary of State to decide whether to issue a direction, the clause requires the Mayor to copy his direction to the Secretary of State and it prevents the borough bringing the LDS into effect until a prescribed time. The clause requires any direction from the Secretary of State to contain the reasons for giving it and it must be copied to the Mayor. The Secretary of State’s continued involvement is intended as a safeguard to be used if, for example, national policy priorities are not reflected in borough work programmes or where it is proposed that key policies that should be set out in a development plan document and undergo independent examination are, instead, to be set out in a supplementary planning document. This clause is more technical and more restrictive than it appears. The issues regarding densities are important, although I cannot comment on the case raised by my noble friend and it is difficult to have any meaningful debate on such issues. There are many ways in which space standards for housing are controlled and enforced; for example, the Housing Corporation has minimum space standards for dwellings, but they are more generous than those in the private sector. Our new Planning Policy Statement 3 sets a minimum housing density standard of 30 dwellings per hectare. The London plan sets different densities for different parts of London. My noble friend said that we should look at floor space rather than units. We can argue that point; indeed, different methods are being discussed. Developments of very low density would in any case be caught by minimum density requirements. I cannot have that debate with my noble friend today in the context of this clause but, given his concerns, I suggest that we have a private conversation with relevant officials in the department and that we pursue the issues that he has raised in that way. I hope that noble Lords will feel able to withdraw their opposition to the clause.