Planning Bill

That is a valid point. Will the individual members of the commission be independent? A lot will depend on their appointment and the processes of that appointment. What worries me even more is that the commission, as the decision maker, will not be politically accountable. Whatever we think about the process at the moment, a Secretary of State—accountable to the House and, ultimately, to the electorate—signs off the final decision on major infrastructure projects. That is democracy. I believe that the commission's insertion between the electorate—those who will endure the planning decisions—and the House means that overall accountability breaks down. I accept the point of the hon. Member for Hazel Grove (Andrew Stunell) and I, too, am concerned about commission members' independence, but independence sometimes derives from accountability when people feel that they can be held to account throughout the due processes. I asked the Secretary of State about the status of the policy statements and whether they would be amendable in the House. Her response was that there would be scrutiny, but that is not the same as being capable of amendment. Policy statements will therefore be similar to the aviation White Paper, and limited in their consultation—the Bill contains details of the methods of consultation. They will not be capable of amendment by the House and will therefore pre-empt local decisions because they are not simply general policy statements but can relate to specific geographical areas and projects.