Planning Bill

moved Amendment No. 75: 75: Clause 9, page 5, line 11, at end insert ““for the approval of both Houses”” The noble Lord said: I have Amendments Nos. 75 and 77 in this group, but Amendment No. 77 will have no relevance unless Amendment No. 75 is passed. It would remove some unnecessary subsections if Amendment No. 75 were agreed. I have said time and again in discussing this Bill that the big decisions are political decisions, and that they must be taken by politicians. We are dealing with the question of how national policy statements are finally approved. If we go down the route of the Bill, which suggests that this should be done by the Secretary of State, we shall run straight into the courts, and there are plenty of people lining up to do just that. However, if we bring the final decision to Parliament itself, that possibly fatal flaw is removed. It is fatal because it will introduce a system of delay which we can do nothing about. We can do many things with the time we give ourselves here in Parliament to discuss items of business and come to a conclusion, but we cannot limit in any way the time that the courts might choose to take. As other Members of the Committee have acknowledged elsewhere, we need to recognise that these amendments are in the interests of trying to speed up the process. My noble friend Lord Jenkin of Roding has Amendment No. 78 in this group which sets out the process in greater detail and with more care than we have put into drafting ours. Our amendment is designed to open the subject, but I would go so far as to suggest that my noble friend has provided the solution. However, that is for him to explain in a few moments. I beg to move.