Planning Bill

Maybe my noble friend misunderstood me. He is absolutely right that national policy statements will be the decision-making frameworks that the IPC will follow. Developers need to know that there is certainty and clarity. I am saying that the amendments’ objectives are achieved by Clause 14. I obviously did not explain it clearly enough. I was reassuring Members of the Committee that the Bill will apply only to the five broad types of development set out in Clause 14. Amendment No. 31 would require publication of a process and a timetable for each case. The amendment was tabled in the other place, and the Member who did so expressed concerns that the processes for designation, consultation and so on might not be adequate, especially in the context of Clause 12’s provision for designating pre-existing statements of policy. I understand the need for Members of the Committee to be reassured that we have a clear and appropriate process that meets these same high standards, whether they are newly designated or based on existing standards. The amendment would not have much practical effect. It requires the publication of only a process and timetable before designation, at the very end of the process. However, I shall address the spirit of the amendment and hopefully allay the noble Lord’s concerns. We can all agree that it is important that NPSs are produced in a timely and efficient manner. Each NPS will need to undergo public consultation, appraisal of sustainability and parliamentary scrutiny. However, they will vary a lot in complexity, depending on the type of infrastructure with which they deal. Therefore, the timescales will differ as well, so I do not think we can set down a specified timetable. We need the flexibility to respond appropriately, but the amendment would not enable us to do that. However, I take the point and we will address as best we can the issue of having a clear and specified process. Different issues of varying degrees of impact will arise too, which is why we need to achieve a balance between flexibility and speed. Amendment No. 32 would require a single NPS dealing with all the transport projects set out in Clause 14. The noble Lord argued eloquently that it is important that strategic policy priorities related to transport infrastructure are considered together, in view of the relationships and interactions between them, to ensure consistency and synergy. I assure him that the Government are actively pursuing the development of an overarching transport strategy, as set out in the discussion document Towards a Sustainable Transport Strategy, which we published last year. That approach reflected the advice of the Eddington report, looking across the transport modes and markets at the outcomes. The DfT will be consulting formally later this year on the emerging conclusions and the next steps. The transport strategy will extend far wider than the relatively few major infrastructure schemes that will be affected by the Bill. It will look across all the transport networks and the physical infrastructure. I am indebted to my noble friend Lord Woolmer for putting this so powerfully. Putting all that into an NPS would make for an unwieldy, complex and probably very delayed document. Having done that, it would be difficult to distil the key issues. I am afraid that it could hinder rather than help. However, the overarching strategy is subject to a substantial programme of further analysis. The aim is to produce by 2012 a programme of action for implementation from 2014 onwards. Therefore, it makes more sense at this stage to produce an NPS which is specific to the sectors and networks that we need to deal with. However, I assure noble Lords that care will be taken to establish consistency. One of the objectives of having an NPS is to relate one to the other without creating huge comprehensive policy documents in so doing, but they will have to read across and we shall try to make that as explicit as possible. Amendment No. 43 seeks to tie national policy statements into the regional planning framework and it is extremely important to do that. We must have the various layers of the planning decision system tied closely together. The NPSs will inform the regional spatial strategies as well as local development frameworks. However, this amendment would create confusion as it would create an impression that NPSs might operate at a regional level. That is a problem. However, NPSs seek to set out national policy in relation to infrastructure and then it will be fed down the planning chain. I hope that the noble Lord will be satisfied with that explanation. Amendment No. 32A in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, would require a Secretary of State to consider any request from an applicant for the production of a national policy statement on an issue on which a national policy statement has not yet been produced. The whole burden of what we have said today is that it is the responsibility of the Secretary of State to produce a national policy statement to meet national needs. Government Ministers are fully in the frame. However, when coming to a view on whether an NPS would be appropriate for a certain area of infrastructure they have an obligation to listen to stakeholders. This is something that I should like to think occurs as a matter of course. However, the noble Lord has put that necessity on the record and that was an important contribution. I do not think that we need to specify it in legislation. Amendment No. 51 would require an NPS to set out the flood risk of identified locations. Noble Lords rightly argue that flood risk is an extremely important consideration, and should be included in the Bill. I certainly do not dispute the increasing importance of taking into account PPS 25 with its various degrees of flood risk identified in terms of the planning decision. I think that the amendment, however, adds too great a level of detail to the Bill. If we were to add flood risk, I can see that we might end up adding all sorts of things. The key is appraisal of sustainability, which is key to the policy development process. That will assess the various impacts and will ensure that they are properly taken account of. I have made it clear during the debates today that NPSs must integrate the environmental, social and economic aspects of policy and all the relevant planning policy documents, which certainly includes PPS25 on flooding. That will be critical, whatever infrastructure we are talking about. Under Clause 5(6), Ministers must give reasons for the policies set out in the statement. We can expect a clear explanation of the factors, and in some instances they will include flooding. NPSs will be subject to public consultation and parliamentary scrutiny. Flood risk is very much in the minds of the public and in our minds here in Parliament. Finally, Amendments Nos. 49 and 50 are the final items in the list of examples of policy that may be included in a national policy statement. I think the intention of the noble Lord was to allow NPSs to specify when a type of development is appropriate only if specific mitigation is applied. Nothing in Clause 5 rules that out. I would like to look again at what the noble Baroness said to make sure that we have an adequate response. I am sorry to have taken such a long time. If there had not been so many different amendments, I would not have taken so much time. They were all worth debating. I am grateful to all noble Lords who have spoken.