Greater London Authority Bill

My Lords, I am not at all surprised by the Minister’s response. Planning obligations should without exception be dealt with and enforced by local authorities. I think the Minister is saying that there are going to be exceptions where the Mayor will step in. In my experience, a planning obligation is very seldom undertaken on the basis that the application might be refused. But an obligation might be undertaken on the basis of a requirement in an accepted application which further ameliorates the application and might bring benefit from the development. That is a local issue which only the local authority ought to be able to determine. We are talking about developments that the Mayor will decide. I have been advised by the Minister that those developments will be so small and limited that the Mayor will hardly have the chance to blow the whistle on any of them. If they are going to be that limited in number, it seems that it would still be much better for the local authority to deal with them. I have made the point for today and beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Clause 33 [Amendments of section 106 of TCPA]: