Planning Bill

It is hard to see how eco-towns would fall within the Bill's provisions, not least because they are housing developments, which are not proposed as eligible major infrastructure projects for the new system of IPC consideration and determination. Let me respond to the points raised in Committee by the hon. Member for Beckenham when we discussed how multiple applications or multiple projects considered as a whole in one application could work. The mechanisms by which the IPC considers separate applications together will be outlined in the relevant national policy statement, in the terms of the Secretary of State's direction, and in other relevant IPC standards and guidance. We intend that where separate projects are directed to the IPC to be treated together, the promoters will be required to work together to create a harmonised set of documentation for the ease not only of the IPC but, importantly, of the public and other local interests that might want to have a significant say on such an application. I will touch briefly on two other important issues dealt with in this group of amendments. The first is raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire, North (Jim Sheridan) in his amendments Nos. 315 and 316, which relate to high-pressure pipelines constructed by licence—gas transporters. He has pursued that subject strongly over the past few months. As I said, the aim of the Bill is to simplify and streamline the planning system for major infrastructure projects. The industry has raised the issue of larger gas transporter pipelines, which can sometimes require a number of other consents. We regard this as raising several important matters, as my hon. Friend has rightly argued. We have a number of practical points to explore further with the industry, and we have to do that before we come to a firm decision on whether those pipeline projects should be considered by the IPC.