Infrastructure Planning (Decisions) Regulations 2010

It is a statement of fact, but if the noble Lord feels it could have been better worded, I accept his point. The key point seem to be to be clear on what the system is meant to produce and why it is an improvement on the current arrangements. The noble Lord also asked what the reference to proposals being properly prepared meant and whether that was in contrast to the current arrangements. The Planning Act requires applications to be consulted on before an application comes to the IPC. We believe that this allows issues, especially big ones, to be addressed before examination, so far as possible. The current system sometimes allows issues to arise during examination that could have been better addressed earlier. The noble Lord, Lord Bates, asked whether the consultation threw up any new issues appropriate for this SI. The Government have undertaken an extensive review of legislation to ensure that this SI catches everything it should. As far as it can be known, the SI is comprehensive. I know that does not deal with the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, about a list of everything that it is necessary for the IPC to have regard to, and I shall come on to that point in a moment.