Sustainable Communities Bill

My Lords, I, too, congratulate my noble friend Lord Marlesford on the clarity with which he presented the Bill in his excellent and comprehensive introduction. The Bill is remarkable in many ways since, as we understand it, it now has all-party support, which is unusual in any dimension. One other unusual thing has happened today, which is worth putting on the record: a Member on these Benches was able to praise the work of his son, who was standing at the Bar. It is very nice to see Nick Hurd, who has steered the Bill through the other place, and to have heard his father, who I suspect is quite proud, speak from these Benches. The Bill has come about thanks to—we may claim credit on this side—the efforts of the Conservative Party working with Local Works and campaigning for stronger local democracy. We have heard from every speaker today about the importance of local democracy. Perhaps if it had come a bit sooner, it could have replaced swathes of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill, which we are trundling through at the moment, particularly the area that we were dealing with yesterday, which related to parish councils. The noble Lord, Lord Cameron, drew attention to the importance of parish councils in their work and in the fact that they represent so closely people in rural communities. The Bill embodies the response to widespread public concern about the decline of rural communities. As others have said, it follows on from the loss of key services from local post offices, banks and community shops, and from widespread concerns that, despite government assurances, an assault on the countryside for the development of even more housing will impact further on those local communities, without them having any way of influencing the outcome. We already know that there has been a big impact on the green belt, despite what the Prime Minister said. In the past 10 years, more than 16,000 houses have been built on new green-belt land. It is important that the Bill’s effect is to give local communities a real say over future developments. It will deal with the sort of matters raised by the noble Lord, Lord Cameron, about the supermarket being put in the wrong place, so sucking up, as it is there, not only the annoyance of local residents but the trade that could come from others. In light of the Prime Minister’s plans announced yesterday that housebuilding will be at the top of the agenda, I take this opportunity to say that those plans should not be implemented without the inclusion and approval of local communities, which after all is what the Bill is about. The very first test of whether this Bill is successful will be that, where large housing developments—or even small ones—are planned to deal with our big housing problem, local communities will be properly involved in the schemes and will not be ignored when they say that there is a flood plain that has been there for ever, which no one has built on for 500 years for the good reason that they will get flooded out if they do so. That is the sort of local knowledge that we should be paying attention to. An interesting aspect of the Bill is that the proposals being put forward by local government for consideration will have to be filleted—if I can put it like that—by a selector. I very much hope that, as the noble Lord, Lord Bruce-Lockhart, said, the Local Government Association’s involvement will make that an easy process. It is extremely important that the LGA is seen to be as impartial as possible and that there are proper criteria about which people cannot argue. The local criteria have to be agreed with local government in advance. I hope that the Bill will revitalise the relationship between central and local government. That relationship needs revitalising and the apathy that has been talked about needs to be dispelled. I again agree with my noble friend Lord Bruce-Lockhart that much of it is not apathy at all, but sheer frustration. People are kicking the boxes beneath their feet because they think that they cannot and will not succeed whatever they say. If this Bill opens up the opportunity for local people to be considered and have their voice heard, it will have done a really good job. The Bill is long overdue. I know that it has been given a fair wind in the other place. We understand that no amendments will be tabled, so there need be no further stages of the Bill and it can pass today—rather, it can have Royal Assent quite soon. However, there are three things that I wish the Minister would clarify, because they are not explicit in the Bill.