Planning Bill

Yes. Planning is not needed at the moment and one can get on with the development. That is particularly important in rural areas, and it must continue. We discussed that two or three days ago. When the noble Lord, Lord Best, was speaking, I was thinking that it was about 20 years ago when, as a Minister with responsibility for housing, I grappled with affordable housing and proposed schemes. Then, as now, if there was any CIL to be paid, it would have completely destroyed any of the projects that we were pursuing. My noble friend Lord Hodgson commented on ““or reduction”” in proposed new subsection (4A)(a) in the Minister’s Amendment No. 437C. As he will see, I tabled an amendment to this to leave out those words for the simple reason that there should be no reduction for charities, which should be exempt. I concur with what my noble friend Lord Dixon-Smith said. We tabled our amendment before the noble Lord, Lord Cameron, tabled his. We wanted to make certain that this issue was well aired. Amendment No. 437D covers particularly the small organisation, which may not have a great deal of money, but has developed something. CIL should be paid, "““only when that value has been or is to be realised by a sale or transfer of part or whole””." When the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, was talking about amateur sports clubs, it occurred to me that this was just the sort of situation that might cover them. The Minister perhaps has listened too much to the big developers and the rich local authorities where development has been under intense pressure over the past few years. The Government have not listened enough to the small amateur organisations, small businesses, charities and individuals covered by this. In cutting the cloth for the big boys, individuals and small organisations will get hurt. I have a query for the Minister on proposed new subsection (4B)(a) and (b) under government Amendment No. 437C. In principle, she is right to include something like this. It is a reasonable safeguard against a developer trying to evade CIL for a development, but there should be a cut-off date. One can foresee a time when local authorities are pushed for money. For example, the noble Lord, Lord Cameron, may have put up an agricultural building, which has improved his enterprise, and seek to enlarge it. He has not paid CIL on it because what he did to begin with was exempt or was at a nil rating, but the extension would fall into a CIL requirement. Because the local authority is short of money, it puts a CIL on the original development and classifies the whole thing as one. I can foresee lots of situations when local authorities will go on fishing trips like that in order to raise money. They always will be short of money. Therefore, should there not be a cut-off date, such as when the development is substantially complete? The local authority should issue a certificate which means that it cannot go back and revisit CIL on that part of the development. My last two amendments in this group support my noble friend Lord Dixon-Smith. I should like to clarify one thing. My noble friend used the word ““charity””. Does ““charity”” cover a limited company with charitable status? It is not quite the same thing, but as long as every sort of charity is covered and exempt, I am happy.