Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that reply. He has made some helpful comments on the record. Obviously I do not share the view that my amendment is somehow burdensome, bureaucratic or cumbersome. It would provide for convening an annual meeting with representatives of central and local government and it talks about how you would comply with the framework of principles that are enshrined within the concordat. I would hardly regard that as particularly burdensome. I repeat that the last paragraph of the concordat—signed, as has been said, by Councillor Sir Simon Milton and the right honourable Hazel Blears MP—says: ""The partners to this agreement will come together regularly in a renewed Central-Local Partnership. One of the roles of that partnership will be to monitor the operation of this agreement, and to revise it for the future as necessary"." That was in December 2007. I suggest that that has not yet happened. I inferred that from my noble friend’s comments about there not being time to do it at the February meeting because the economy was discussed. That raises the question of what happened to prevent the meeting from being fitted in between December 2007 and February 2009. Anyway, I take it from my noble friend’s helpful comments that at least tabling the amendment and having this debate, with a few questions being asked, may have prompted some action by the parties concerned to see that the concordat and the central-local partnership work. In the light of that, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment 169 withdrawn.