My Lords, it is a pleasure to open the Second Reading debate of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill. For decades, successive Governments have failed to address the inequality of opportunity in our country. Economic growth has for too long been concentrated in a select few areas. This Bill creates the foundations for our long-term efforts to address entrenched geographic disparities across the UK. It does not purport to deal with every aspect covered in the levelling up White Paper, although noble Lords could be forgiven for thinking otherwise, given the scale of the Bill.
We all know the scale of the challenge that we face in levelling up our country. We see the consequences of geographic disparity across the country: in the unaffordability of housing for so many; in the hollowing out of our communities, as people leave for lack of local opportunities; and in the stark differences in educational attainment, health and quality of life depending on where you live.
The case for change is both economic and moral. Leaving parts of our country behind means opportunities are missed through underinvestment and overfocus on specific sectors. That costs us in terms of economic growth, of benefiting from our world-leading research and, most importantly, of each person who cannot achieve their potential through no fault of their own.
We have a duty to support those already affected by geographic disparities, but we must also solve the underlying problems. To treat that support as the long- term solution is to fall into the same well-meaning trap which led to the current situation.
The Bill is intentionally designed to put in place the structures and tools to enable that long-term solution. The framework it creates will work with our efforts to support communities but it is deliberately focused on the wider objectives set out in the Government’s levelling up White Paper. It is for this reason that Part 1 creates a statutory framework for the setting, reporting upon and review of levelling-up missions. As noble Lords will be aware, the missions set out in the levelling up White Paper set out the Government’s 12 priorities for levelling up between now and 2030. I do not intend to relist the missions but as your Lordships will know, they range from health and well-being through transport and digital connectivity to devolution across England.
This ambitious programme for our country provides a mechanism for this House and the other place to hold the Government’s efforts to account and to scrutinise any changes in the missions or how they are measured. It is right, I hope noble Lords will agree, that missions should be adaptable to the needs of the country, but that any adaption should take place openly.
Part 2 builds directly upon the local leadership levelling-up mission and provides the means to simplify, expand and deepen devolution across England, to which the White Paper committed. It creates a new institutional model more suitable for devolution to whole county areas outside city regions which have more than one council—the combined county authority. Alongside this, we are improving the existing combined authority and local authority models for devolution. This work is creating a consistent architecture across local government for devolution in England, where it is led by local areas.
Part 3 reforms the planning system to improve planning authorities’ ability to shape their areas in accordance with the needs and wishes of their communities. Principally, this is achieved by giving greater weight to the development plan when decisions on applications are made, so that there must be strong reasons to override the plan, and by making a number of changes to aid the adoption of local plans. These include the introduction, through secondary legislation, of new gateway checks to help spot and correct problems and reduce the risk that local plans will fail at examination. We are also removing the pressure many planning authorities feel to duplicate national policy in their local plans to ensure it has sufficient weight in their decision-making. This will enable plans to be produced more quickly by streamlining the contents of plans to policies which are bespoke to the area, rather than those which apply across the country.
As at present, we will also produce some high-level policies on matters to be considered when preparing local plans. These will be separate from the new national development management policies, which will sit alongside the polices in the development plan. Part 3 makes a number of other changes to the planning system. This is a substantial part of the Bill and there are a few significant changes among the numerous technical improvements included in this part.
Chapter 1 enables the digitisation of the planning system, in support of which we are already working with planning authorities across the country. Our aim is to enable greater involvement at all stages in the planning system, but particularly to increase engagement in the production of the local plan, where local voices can be so important. We are also strengthening the regard of heritage within planning law and creating a new system of “street votes”, allowing additional development on existing streets, where it meets prescribed requirements and is supported at a referendum. The issue of build-out of planning permissions also remains of concern to communities, and I know that many noble Lords have raised this issue before. Part 3 therefore introduces measures which will improve transparency around the speed of build-out and delivery expectations, backed up by new and strengthened powers for local planning authorities to act against unreasonably slow development.
Part 4 provides for the replacement, in most cases, of negotiable development contributions with a locally set, non-negotiable infrastructure levy. Planning authorities can at present often feel themselves at a disadvantage in these negotiations, particularly with the larger developers. Similarly, your Lordships will know that uncertainty over the obligations which will be requested can be a barrier for some of our smaller developers.
The levy addresses these concerns. The legislation will allow the levy to be set locally, meaning that local authorities can set different rates according to the nature of development. This will allow authorities to set rates reflecting their priorities, including securing at least as much affordable housing as that secured under the existing system, if not more. The new levy will be implemented through a test and learn approach, by introducing it in some local authorities first before rolling it out nationally to support local authorities through the transition period. We will publish a technical consultation on the new levy very shortly.
Part 5 grants time-limited powers for community land auction pilots. These will test an innovative mechanism for securing value and infrastructure for the local area from the allocation of land for development in a local plan. The Secretary of State is required to report to Parliament on the results of those pilots.
I turn to Part 6. Following our departure from the European Union, we want to learn from the experience of the past 40 years to tailor environmental assessment to better reflect the current pressures on the environment and meet the nation’s environmental needs. The Bill will secure powers to address issues with the current system that have seen environmental assessment become less proportionate, less effective and more cumbersome. Even if nothing else were to change, the Government would need to take powers to avoid these regimes becoming outdated. As a core principle, we would not wish to see environmental protections eroded over time, and the Government wish to go further to ensure that these assessments deliver for the environment.
These assessments could and should be more effective, both in identifying the impacts which could occur and as tools for promoting environmental improvement. We want these reports to be an active means for pursuing environmental improvement and protection. It is this objective, building on the work of the Environment Act 2021, which we are pursuing through this part.
Further to Part 6, Part 7 puts into law a requirement for water companies to address nutrient pollution arising from wastewater treatment works by 2030. This, together with a nutrient mitigation scheme led by Natural England, will reduce the barriers to significant numbers of new homes while creating new and improved wetlands and woodlands, enhancing access to nature, improving the environment and helping to build much-needed homes.
Part 8 reforms development corporations in England to create a new, locally led form of development corporation to support local leadership of regeneration efforts. We are also updating other forms of development corporations to ensure that these valuable tools for co-ordinating large-scale developments can all benefit from the powers suited to their circumstances.
Part 9 makes changes to the system for compulsory purchase, including enabling its digitisation similarly to Chapter 1 of Part 3. The purpose of these changes is to allow authorities to make better use of powers in their areas, where they find that there is a case for their use in shaping and regenerating those areas.
Part 10 provides local authorities with a tool in their efforts to regenerate and protect their high streets. By means of a high-street rental auction, planning authorities will be able, where a property has been vacant for at least a year—or at least 366 days within a two-year period—to make arrangements for that property to be let on appropriate terms. This is a discretionary power for local authorities, and we will provide guidance to support them as to how and when to use this new power. However, we expect it to form a backstop position to assist in preventing the decline of those high streets at the hearts of our communities.
Penultimately, Part 11 provides for powers to acquire more information about land ownership and arrangements. These powers respond to calls we have often heard regarding the barriers for local authorities and others arising from the lack of transparency about who ultimately owns land and who has options and other interests in it. As noble Lords will know, the possible arrangements are myriad. The powers we are taking have been deliberately constructed to try to preclude the possibility that a form of interest in land might escape the transparency that we seek to create.
Finally, Part 12 makes a number of changes which seek in large part to tidy up various regimes and systems that interact with the main elements of the Bill. We are taking powers to create a scheme for the registration of short-term lettings, the proliferation of which can cause problems in specific communities. The register will improve consistency in standards across all types of guest accommodation and deliver much-needed evidence and data on the number and locations of short- term lets in England.
We are also making permanent the provisions, introduced during the pandemic, streamlining the application for pavement licensing for outdoor dining in the Business and Planning Act 2020. To make these provisions work, they will be taken forward with minor modifications to their previous form based on feedback on the operation of the temporary measures during the pandemic.
In connection with our wider improvements to the heritage regime, we are placing into statute the requirement for authorities to maintain a historic environment record for all their areas. We are also allowing the Secretary of State to commission a review of the governance of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and providing powers for fees to be charged in connection with monitoring, variations and transfers of marine licences.
The breadth of the subject matter I have outlined seems eclectic, but these measures are all connected by our desire to empower areas through both devolution and improvements to existing systems to take advantage of the opportunities that they see. Through the reforms in the Bill, we seek to make it easier for areas to agree to devolution suited to them and shape their areas to take advantage of new opportunities while supporting their communities and safeguarding and improving the environment.
For the majority of the measures in the Bill, we are making changes only in relation to England. In some areas, the Bill extends beyond England, such as on environmental assessment, where it extends across the UK. I hope to have more to say on that subject later during the passage of the Bill once discussions with the relevant devolved Governments have concluded.
The House will also have noted the delegation of powers which the Bill provides to Ministers. We recognise the legitimate concerns that noble Lords have on this topic. We have sought to ensure that the powers we take are justified and appropriate to the policy in its context. I hope to be able to reassure your Lordships and make our case in relation to each measure as the Bill progresses. We will, of course, listen carefully to any suggestions that noble Lords may have.
The Bill enjoyed extended scrutiny in the other place and emerged all the stronger for that consideration. Your Lordships’ expertise on the complex matters with which the Bill is concerned can only further assist, and I look forward to working with them on achieving its objectives.
I very much look forward to the maiden speeches of the noble Lord, Lord Jackson of Peterborough, and the noble Baroness, Lady Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent. I join the House in giving them a very warm welcome to this place. I also look forward to the valedictory speech of the noble Baroness, Lady Harris of Richmond, who will contribute virtually. I hope that she can hear me when I say how much she will be missed in this House. I commend the Bill to the House and beg to move.
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