Planning Bill

My Lords, I do not have an amendment down in this group, but I understand that all noble Lords who have something to say on the amendments that are tabled should speak now, and then the Minister will reply. I am interested in government Amendments Nos. 47 to 51, which relate to Clause 13. I have tried to keep up with all the implications of this Bill and have listened with much interest to the explanations that Ministers have offered as to the Government’s intentions for the extent of the Bill. I hope that noble Lords will allow me to express my puzzlement as to why Clause 13 should not apply to Scotland. I accept that it is the Government’s intent that the Bill should have no practical effect in Scotland, because we recognise that the actual process of granting planning permission is a devolved function. But the Bill is fairly clear about which clauses apply to Scotland and which do not. Clauses 1 to 12 appear to apply to Scotland and, as such, whether as an unintended consequence or otherwise, and at some future date as well, at least a national policy statement might consider the Scottish dimension. Given that, it is possible that the Scottish Executive or some other Scottish entity might want to appeal to a court at some future point. Certainly, given the phrasing of the Bill, that could be on proposals for an electric line above ground, under Clause 16(1)(d), or a gas pipeline, as envisaged at Clause 20(2), in which the point at which the construction reaches the Scottish border will have a clear implication for how the engineering works will continue when they are within Scotland. On the question of cross-border services, will the Minister clarify for me how things stand for railways? In answering my noble friend Lady Carnegy of Lour in Committee on 8 October, she said that, "““the arrangements for Scotland are within the devolution settlement””.—[Official Report, 8/10/08; col. 273.]" I spent some time following the progress of the Scotland Act, and noble Lords will be aware that under Section E2 of Schedule 5 the provision and regulation of services was in the first instance reserved to Westminster. Later, on 13 June 2002, I and other noble Lords took part in the consideration of what became Statutory Instrument 2002/1629. It amended Schedule 5 to allow railways in Scotland to be devolved to the Scottish Parliament. In our discussion of the meaning of that statutory instrument, the Minister said: "““The order amends Section E2 of Schedule 5 to the Scotland Act. It transfers to the Scottish Parliament legislative competence over powers for the promotion and construction of railways in Scotland … In future, permissions for railway projects that are wholly within Scotland will be granted at Holyrood and only cross-border developments will continue to be dealt with at Westminster””.—[Official Report, 13/6/02; cols. 449-450.]" It appears to me that there is a role for this Parliament in considering cross-border railway developments, although the noble Baroness may not want to include that in the Bill at this point of time. However, given that Clauses 1 to 12 have Scottish implications, someone might at some future date try to incorporate the issue into legislation. Perhaps the Minister could throw some light on the Government’s attitude to this.