Planning Bill

My Lords, my reading of the amendments tabled by the right reverend Prelate is that it is a requirement for each national policy statement to contribute directly to the mitigation of climate change. Within the context of the 80 per cent target and the need to ensure that we do everything we can, there may be certain circumstances in which it cannot do that. What I am arguing for is some overall flexibility, with Ministers having accountability. I stress at once that the concept of sustainable development sits at the heart of planning. This is made explicit in planning policy statement 1, which sets out how the principles of sustainable development apply to planning generally. In 2005, the Government published Securing the Future, a new sustainable development strategy for the UK, which set out five key principles for sustainable development: living within environmental limits; securing a strong, healthy and just society; achieving a sustainable economy; promoting good governance; and using sound science responsibly. The strategy makes it clear that in order for a policy to achieve sustainability, it must integrate all five of those principles, which is necessary if we are to meet the needs of communities while respecting the limits of our environment and resources. We must therefore look at the social, economic and environmental considerations holistically and integrate them in a way that allows us to promote development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It is important to give the House the Government’s understanding of what we mean by sustainable development, which we believe should be the guiding principle for Ministers in preparing national policy statements. That is why Clause 10 places such importance on it. Issues around climate change—and I speak from my position, wearing my DECC and Defra hats—are very important indeed. The noble Lord, Lord Cameron, made the point that however much we are concerned about financial issues or presidential elections, climate change is the mega-issue that we face. That is why the decision by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change to go for putting the 80 per cent target on to the statute book was so important. Despite that, other elements of sustainable development are also important and we must have regard to them. I think that the House might agree that, alongside climate change, we have to take account of the need to secure our long-term energy supply, for example. The noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, has powerfully and passionately been asking the House and the Government to ensure security of energy supply. It is also important that we have regard to employment and economic growth. We cannot ignore people’s standard of living and, crucially, other environmental decisions, such as preserving biodiversity. This is where we come to the nub of the argument, which I anticipated earlier. The amendments tabled by the right reverend Prelate would require that, before the Secretary of State designates a statement or amends a national policy statement, he, "““must be satisfied that (taken as a whole) the policies … contribute to the mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change and to the achievement of sustainable development””." Amendment No. 51A would separate climate change from sustainable development and introduce a new clause that would require the Secretary of State to draw up and review national policy statements, "““with the objective of contributing to the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change””." Our problem with this is that the amendments would elevate the consideration of climate change to such a degree that the other considerations could be marginalised. There could be risks for other policies, including energy policy. We have made clear our intention to undergo the transition to a low-carbon economy. It will be in statute, provided that your Lordships accept it when the Bill comes back on Monday week. That is the context in which all these other considerations come to the fore. It is the difference between where we were in Committee and where we are now on Report. A basic principle of our climate change policy, as emerges in the Climate Change Bill, is that some individual policies may not necessarily contribute to meeting the targets. We have to accept that. As long as our national effort balances and the overall targets, taken together, are met, that is perfectly acceptable. The problem is not philosophical but practical. We do not want to undermine this prospect by requiring each national policy statement to contribute directly to the mitigation of climate change. We think that that would restrict our freedom of manoeuvre, which is why we have reservations about the amendments tabled by the right reverend Prelate. Ultimately, these decisions have to be made by Ministers. They cannot be made by anyone else. We believe that the amendments that we have tabled create the kind of regime that will enable the concerns of noble Lords to be covered without in the end affecting ministerial responsibility. Our Amendment No. 37 makes it clear that addressing climate change and achieving good design are key and essential elements of the notion of sustainable development. Our amendments aim to highlight the particular importance of climate change and good design but do so as part of the broader sustainable development duty. They make it clear that climate change should be at the forefront of Ministers’ minds when drawing up national policy statements but that that should be done within the broader objective of achieving sustainable development. That is crucial. Clause 10 underpins and frames the Secretary of State’s actions. It ensures that those principles are always at the forefront of Ministers’ minds when drawing up and reviewing national policy statements, which is where they should be. If Clause 10 sets out the principle, Clause 5 will underpin the practice. Amendment No. 25 to Clause 5 requires Ministers to include in each national policy statement an explanation of how the policy takes account of government policy relating to the mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change. In effect, Ministers must describe how they have carried out their duty under Clause 10 by reference to wider government policy on the mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change. This will, of course, include the Climate Change Bill once it is in place, so ensuring, as I have said, that national policy statements themselves are drawn up in the context of the targets and policies that it puts in place. These duties should then be seen in the wider context of the processes which the Bill puts in place to ensure that the policy set out in national policy statements is appropriate and robust. First, national policy statements will be subject to an appraisal of sustainability, to ensure that environmental, social and economic objectives, including climate change, are properly factored into their development. This will involve an iterative process of collecting information, defining realistic alternatives, identifying sustainability effects and developing mitigation measures. That will then be fully integrated with the wider national policy statement preparation process, involving statutory consultees during key stages and, where necessary, the draft national policy statement will be revised in light of the appraisal of sustainability. Secondly, national policy statements will be subject to public consultation and, as noble Lords have already debated today, subject to parliamentary scrutiny. If, in the process of scrutiny, Parliament were of the view that climate change—or, indeed, design, which we shall come to in a moment—had not been properly taken account of, it could make a resolution or recommendation in respect of that. I emphasise that Ministers will be bound by the provisions of the Climate Change Bill once enacted, and will need to ensure that, taken together, government policy achieves the targets that it sets out. This is the key point: it is taken together. It must be seen as a collective government effort. Inevitably there will be some—I hate to say it—swings and roundabouts, but there must also be some balancing between the different national policy statements. In some areas, it will probably not be possible to show a contribution on climate change, but there will be a national interest in taking that policy forward. All of this happens within the context of the 80 per cent target enshrined in legislation. That is a critical point.