Planning Bill

My hon. Friend makes a reasoned point. Building on green belt is often less expensive than building on a brownfield site. The power now goes to the IPC. The Government's response to any planning problem is to exclude people and hand the job over to a quango. In truth, the proposals will introduce an unnecessary, unfair and less effective extra raft into the planning system. The quality of decision making will be markedly worse and those parts of the community most affected by the proposals will be deliberately marginalised and minimised. The existing system could be built upon and improved. The planning inspectorate is capable of reform. Why cannot it carry out the job instead of the commission, rather than establishing a new body? On the surface, they look very familiar.