My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, for his succinct and focused response to the previous amendment. I hope this is hinting at a trend, but I fear not.
The Government’s aim is to promote and support the regeneration of brownfield land and the creation of new locally led garden cities. Increasing the supply of new homes is a key priority for our Government. We want to support people’s ambitions to deliver the homes they need in innovative ways. We believe that urban development corporations can play a key role in driving forward delivery of large scale development, especially in areas where previous ambitious plans have failed to progress. Urban development corporations, as noble Lords will know, are statutory bodies which are established under the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980. Their objective is to regenerate designated urban development areas.
The legislation on urban development corporations is now over 30 years old. While the substance of the legislation remains fit for purpose, the Government believe that the procedure for establishing them should now be reformed. They are established through affirmatively approved instruments, which, if held to affect private interests, can be declared to be hybrid by the House, and therefore become subject to the hybrid instruments procedure. Once declared hybrid, the order is open to allow private interests to petition. This has happened in all previous cases. The hybrid procedure is time-consuming and can be costly for all parties, involving processes of representations and hearings over what can be a substantial period of time.
I say from the outset that I have received and read the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee Report which says, on page 5, that we need,
“better to manage local expectations and to ensure that the prior requirement for Parliamentary scrutiny and approval is properly understood”.
Balanced with that, I have already stated the Government’s intention, which I am sure is an intention shared by everyone, that more homes need to be built. Therefore, if there are no petitions, the delay can be short under current procedures. However, where there are petitions, the process can be very time-consuming, as they need to be considered in turn by both the Hybrid Instruments Committee and then, if necessary, a specially convened Select Committee, before returning for debate in both Houses.
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The Government do not consider that the hybrid procedure is necessary in the case of a statutory instrument establishing an urban development corporation, provided, of course, that there is proper consultation with individuals, businesses and local authorities in the area concerned before the statutory instrument is presented to Parliament. This is looking at the process in advance, while the current process, the process of the UDC, is already under way. What are the Government proposing? The Government propose that the parliamentary approval process to establish an urban development corporation should be a negative procedure. We also propose creating a new statutory consultation duty which must be fulfilled before an order is made.
Of course, I note the concerns that the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee has raised in relation to this proposal. I assure noble Lords again that the Government are considering the issues that have been raised carefully. We will be responding formally before the next stage of the Bill and all noble Lords will be made aware of that response. However, I hope that I will be able to persuade noble Lords that the Government’s proposal provides the appropriate level and type of scrutiny before an urban development corporation can be established.
The Government recognise that amending the process to establish urban development corporation would remove the right to petition. However, the loss of the right to petition through the hybrid procedure will not mean that people do not have an opportunity to express their views and provide input into proposals. Our amendment includes a statutory consultation procedure which requires the Secretary of State to consult with persons who represent residents, businesses, local authorities and anyone else considered appropriate as part of that duty to consult. Surely, it increases the level of public scrutiny that proposals of this nature must undergo, and puts it in the hands of the people it will affect the most at an early stage, which allows them a real opportunity to shape the outcome before the proposal goes live. It would ensure that anyone will be able to respond to a consultation on proposals and have a forum in which they can express their views. Such consultation is now standard practice and by putting consultation on a statutory footing, as we propose, the rights of affected parties to make their views known are fully protected and we would be required as a matter of public law to take those views into account.
The recent non-statutory consultation exercise that we have carried out on the proposal to establish an urban development corporation at Ebbsfleet in Kent is a case in point. That proposal was promoted by an extensive engagement campaign, which included public events with local residents, businesses, town and parish councils and members of each of the three impacted local authorities. The consultation, and how to access it, was widely publicised throughout the local area. Almost 9,000 leaflets were delivered and posters were distributed and displayed. Advertisements in the local press and promotion via the websites of each of the three local authorities played a key part. This has provided a full opportunity for local concerns to be raised. We are giving serious consideration to all the comments and suggestions raised during the consultation and although decisions are yet to be finalised, it is possible that these representations will result in changes to the proposed urban development corporation. We will publish our formal response to the consultation shortly.
Provided that a robust consultation has been carried out, as I have illustrated in the case of Ebbsfleet, we do not consider that the hybrid process is a proportionate form of scrutiny, as there will have already been a statutory process, as proposed in the Bill, in which local objections can be formally registered.
The inclusion of a formal duty to consult will mean that the establishment of urban development corporations in England will be open to scrutiny by the courts
should the consultation be flawed in any way. Application for judicial review will be available if people consider that the statutory procedure for consultation has not been properly followed.
I welcome the debates that we have in the House. As we have already seen this afternoon, we have great expertise across the board in this area. However, as noble Lords will know, Parliament could of course annul a statutory instrument under the negative procedure if it was not satisfied with how the Government had responded to any local objections that had been raised through the consultation. Indeed, this is already the case for mayoral development corporations, a similar type of body established for London by the Localism Act 2011, to which the negative procedure applies.
As well as ensuring an appropriate level of scrutiny, a statutory consultation procedure would be far more effective and efficient than petitioning under the hybrid procedure. Under the legislation as it stands, the point at which the order is declared hybrid by the House can be the first opportunity that people have formally to voice any concerns. It is far easier for people to participate actively in consultations and voice concerns at earlier stages of the policy-making process, rather than waiting for a chance to petition once a statutory instrument is before Parliament.
Replacing the hybrid procedure with a statutory consultation duty would also reflect the fact that the ability for people to engage with government has improved greatly in recent years. It is surely far quicker, cheaper and easier for members of the public to raise their concerns through a consultation process than to bring a statutory petition in front of the House of Lords.
The hybrid procedure can be a time-consuming process. The establishment of the West Northamptonshire Development Corporation found itself subject to the hybrid procedure, adding five months to the establishment timetable. In the case of the London Docklands corporation, established in the 1980s, it took seven months from the point at which the order was originally laid to the final conclusion and report by the Select Committee. The Select Committee itself sat for a total of 50 days, prompting it to recommend that the procedure on hybrid orders, which we are discussing today, should be reconsidered.
Delays of this nature are not merely an inconvenience; they are also detrimental to the development and regeneration of the areas that UDCs are established to deliver. Local businesses and communities can be faced with a considerable period of uncertainty. They may be unclear about what is happening, about the future plans for an area and, in the case of people progressing development proposals, unsure as to which body will be dealing with their planning applications.
There is a further reason why the hybrid procedure is not necessary in this case. The Government do not consider that the formation of an urban development corporation changes the rights of individuals and businesses in the area. The powers available to urban development corporations are already available to local authorities—those such as compulsory purchase, development management and the provision of certain
services. Therefore, the Government do not accept that the creation of an urban development corporation gives rise to a loss of rights.
In conclusion, I wish to mention Ebbsfleet, which I have already flagged. Our proposal to change the approval procedure and to create a new statutory consultation duty reflects the level and type of scrutiny that the Government consider appropriate for statutory instruments of this nature. While it is true that the process of preparing to establish the Ebbsfleet UDC has highlighted the issue, we think it is right in principle that these arrangements should apply to orders establishing urban development corporations, whether for Ebbsfleet or elsewhere. I beg to move.