Planning Bill

moved Amendment No. 85A: 85A: Clause 59, page 35, line 25, leave out subsection (6) and insert— ““(6) The deadline is the deadline that is prescribed, which must be such that the applicant and any other interested party are afforded a reasonable opportunity to make representations on the local impact report to a Panel or a single commissioner (as appropriate) before the deadline for completion of the examination of the application by the Panel or the single commissioner (see section 97).”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, my amendment may look a bit confusing, but it would bring forward the deadline that would be set out in regulations for the production of local authorities’ local impact reports. Interested parties such as promoters and objectors would have an opportunity to comment on the report to the IPC before the end of its examination period in relation to the application. This is an issue that needs a lot of study, but it occurred to me that there does not appear to be any provision for a local authority’s local impact report to be seen and commented on by any other interested party. It is essential that there is such a provision in the interests of fairness and natural justice and so that the final decision is robust, particularly because the local impact report will be a key factor in the IPC’s decision, as confirmed in Clause 102. I felt that this defect could be mitigated by bringing forward the deadline provided in Clause 59(6) to some time before the end of the examination period. Perhaps the precise timing could be considered further and covered by regulations. I beg to move.