Planning Bill

My Lords, I am quite happy to do that. I start by repeating an interest, which I declared in Committee, in that a planning application for a wind-power station may be made close to where I live on the Lancashire-Cumbria border. In Committee, I introduced an amendment that sought to require the Secretary of State to ensure, before designating a statement as a national policy statement, that the statement was consistent with the terms of the European Landscape Convention, a convention of the Council of Europe that we signed up to a few years back. That amendment received some support in this House. The noble Lord, Lord Williamson of Horton, spoke in favour of it, as, I think, did others. The noble Lord, Lord Judd, who is in favour of wind farms, said that there were suitable and unsuitable places for them. The noble Lord, Lord Howarth of Newport, also tabled an amendment at that stage that required the Secretary of State to take account of the impact of policy on the, "““built heritage, scheduled ancient monuments and important landscapes””." Now, the Government’s own Amendment No. 37 requires the Secretary of State to, "““have regard to the desirability of … achieving good design””," following the excellent campaign of the noble Lord, Lord Howarth, on that subject. The noble Lord has tabled another heritage amendment, Amendment No. 64, which I hope will be accepted. Landscape has, alas, disappeared except in the restricted sense in which it appears in the amendment tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Howarth, which covers conservation areas, registered parks, gardens and battlefields, but no more. Hence, my amendment seeks to rectify an omission by adding just four words to the Government’s amendment. It requires the Secretary of State to have regard to the desirability of, "““respecting high quality landscape””." The phrase, ““high quality landscape””, is to be found in the preamble to the European Landscape Convention. If it is thought to be a subjective concept, it is no more so than good design, which the Secretary of State will also now have to take into account. Recently, I received in the post—in common, no doubt, with many other noble Lords—a small pamphlet which described itself as a snapshot of the work of areas of outstanding natural beauty. The covering letter, which was signed by the chairman of the National Association for Areas of Outstanding National Beauty contained the following two glowing sentences. It states: "““David Miliband commented in 2007, ‘landscape provides the backdrop and basis for the nation’s tourist industry, which contributes over £70 billion every year to the British economy. What attracts tourists to Britain is overwhelmingly the beauty and character of our landscape’””." There we have it. In the words of one of our most senior Ministers, when it comes to tourism and the famed attractions of this country, landscape is paramount—unless this was just an example of the art of triangulation, which is to say to each audience what will please them and not worry about the contradictions. The fact is that some of our finest landscapes are being industrialised and ruined by wind power stations. That is very much true of the corridor that runs between the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales National Park, with which I am familiar, but there are many other areas as well. In my opinion, the Government should not let that happen. It need not happen. This Bill could be a tool to prevent it happening. The Secretary of State could make use of the terms of Clause 5(5), which provides: "““The policy set out in a national policy statement may in particular””," designate, "““one or more locations as suitable (or … unsuitable) for a specified description of development””." This amendment would require the Secretary of State to take landscape into account before designating a national policy statement. Let the Government show that they do not always triangulate, but that they occasionally engage in joined-up government, and accept this amendment.