My Lords, in Committee there was widespread support for the measures of both this Government and the coalition Government to devolve powers to local communities, particularly through neighbourhood planning. We know that neighbourhood planning delivers more homes—the Government’s own figures confirm it—so how can it be right for local people to have no redress when a planning application is approved which drives a coach and horses through everything they have worked tirelessly to achieve in their neighbourhood plan?
The Minister confirmed in Committee that 1,800 neighbourhood plans had come into the early stages of development and that about 120 had been brought into force, but the total number that we could be looking at is 9,000. Why, bluntly, should local people go to the effort of producing a neighbourhood plan if such plans can be ignored when councils make decisions on planning applications and the opportunity to challenge is through costly judicial reviews?
The Minister said in Committee that this amendment was not necessary because the Secretary of State can recover planning appeals, but at that stage I highlighted three things. First, that power applies only when the permission has been refused by the local authority and subsequently taken to appeal. Secondly, it applies only to major applications while, particularly in rural areas, it can be the smaller sites of up to nine homes which need very careful planning to ensure that we get those types of development which have the support of local communities. Finally, the recovery available to the Secretary of State provides no protection for communities when the permission has been granted by local authorities contrary to a neighbourhood plan.
This amendment, in my name and those of the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy of Southwark, and my noble friend Lord Taylor of Goss Moor, creates a
limited right of appeal. I am sorry to see that the noble Lord, Lord True, is not in his place today, but we debated this point in Committee. This is a limited right only for parish councils and neighbourhood forums, not for individuals, and it would enable them to appeal against the granting of permission only for new housing that conflicts with their made or well-advanced neighbourhood plan. It is a limited right supported by the House of Lords Committee on National Policy for the Built Environment, on which I was privileged to serve earlier this year, and by the CPRE, Civic Voice and NALC, three organisations that do so much to ensure that more people are involved in planning, helping to ensure that we get consensus around planning and thus help us to deliver the additional homes that we know we need. I beg to move.