Planning Bill

I would like to associate the Liberal Democrats with much of the debate on this group, particularly the representations that have been made about charities and social housing. My noble friend Lord Shutt of Greetland threatened to make a guest appearance in this debate, and I do not think he disappointed us when he followed the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts. I shall make a few comments about local sporting facilities and sports clubs. I refer to government Amendment No. 437C. It has been suggested that it does not meet the Bill in a number of ways. It refers to charities, but not to community amateur sports clubs, which are not necessarily charities but perform a similar function. In various Acts, they are set alongside charities as benefiting from, for example, gift aid on donations and often relief from non-domestic rates. If the Government are pursuing this amendment in its present form, will the Minister have a look at whether community amateur sports clubs can be added to it? Local sporting facilities are a vital part of community facilities. I do not have to go into detail about their benefit to local communities, not least to those who take part in the sporting events. They benefit health, welfare and so on. It would be unfortunate if they were caught by the community infrastructure levy in the way that charities may not be—I use the ““may””. There is also a general concern about the effect of the changes on the very real benefits which local sporting facilities and many other local community facilities get, at the moment, from planning obligations through Section 106 agreements. The noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, has raised the relationship between the two. It is estimated by Sport England that, in 2006-07, sport benefited to the tune of £21.3 million from planning gain. Clearly, there is a potential in the new system for bodies, which at the moment are benefiting from money from planning permissions, having to pay over money in future. Where is the balance likely to lie? Those real concerns exist not just in local sporting facilities, but also in a number of different sectors. It needs bottoming. On a more general point, the more I listened to the debate on CIL this morning and this afternoon, the more I came to the view that it may well be a piece of legislation which we spend a great deal of time worrying about, and which is never brought into effect. The more one looks into it, the more one sees the unintended consequences and complexities. In the end, people will say that it is not the answer and we will have to go back and think again.