Planning Bill

Clause 9 is at the heart of the Bill—or at least those parts of it that seek to speed up infrastructure projects. The national policy statements really make it work and allow the IPC to proceed to do its business with due democratic authority. It is right that national policy statements should be decided at national parliamentary level, which, as I said earlier, is a new development for our planning system. We must ensure that we utilise the full voice and expertise of Parliament as a whole. I know that this is not the time or the place to debate the future make-up or role of this House—that has been done ad nauseam and will probably continue to be done at other times—but in that debate it has always seemed to me that the one question that cannot be asked enough is how we ensure that we continue to have a House of experts, as we have in this House, not only inputting into the legislative process but contributing in a variety of different spheres and ways to the future well-being of our nation. National policy statements are a prime example of where real, experienced expertise will be imperative, whether we are talking about nuclear power stations, ordinary power stations, highways, airports, railways, water storage or other engineering projects, not to mention simple, straightforward planning expertise—if planning expertise can be simple. We in this House have our share of the nation’s experts. Experts know how to ask the right questions; they know how to set the right parameters. Above all, they have credibility and integrity, which means that they are slightly less likely to succumb without question to the Whip, as happens in the other place. I do not think that a Joint Committee of both Houses quite achieves what I am looking for in this clause. It is, as the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, said, up to this House how it handles these numerous NPSs and their rolling reviews. If Amendment No. 80 is successful, I suggest that a simple scrutiny committee, with the power to co-opt the necessary expertise from within the House, will suffice. The committee should have the power to make the necessary recommendations to, and enter into negotiations with, the Secretary of State and eventually either release the NPS from scrutiny, or otherwise. The key question is what happens when we come to ““otherwise”” and there is a deadlock between the Secretary of State and the scrutiny committee. Bearing in mind my inexperience when it comes to parliamentary procedures, I would favour Amendment No. 82 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, or Amendment No. 83 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee. Each House as a whole would vote on the national policy statement and have the ability to accept or reject it—always, as the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, has said, bearing in mind the supremacy of the other place.