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Prepared: 17:46 on 18 November 2008
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Prepared: 17:46 on 18 November 2008
Baroness Hamwee: My Lords, I welcome the Government’s amendments. Throughout the passage of this Bill, the Minister has devoted time and a considerable degree of care to listening to noble Lords and responding to their concerns wherever possible. As ever, the wording which the Government have produced is considerably better than mine and I thank the Minister for the two amendments. In introducing them, she said quite rightly that there have been occasions when the term “site” has been used. In fact the Bill deals only with “locations”. We have all been guilty of referring to “sites”. There was even an occasion at the last stage when the Minister talked about “potentially suitable sites”. I am glad that that has been corrected and we have slightly broadened the issue.
Amendment No. 12 reflected my concern that the Secretary of State should be in the same position as the commission in cases where the Secretary of State takes a decision on matters to which he or she must have regard. I appreciate that it will be rare for there to be a national policy statement in place when there is a Secretary-of-State decision, but it is possible and the Bill allows for that. The Government’s drafting clearly includes confirmation—and I use that word rather loosely—of the status of the NPS vis-à-vis other considerations. Having had it explained to me that it is in a different part of Clause 104 from those to which the panel and council must have regard, and that those parts of Clause 104 are not repeated in Clause 105, I can see that my concern is misplaced; that concern being that a court looking at the two clauses might say that Parliament had a different view as to how Clause 105 would operate and national policy statements would have a different status in that clause. Third Readings are useful occasions. I can see now that that should not apply. I am grateful for the time of the House and for the opportunity to explain my concern, as well as to thank the Minister and make sure that it is understood how the two clauses operate.
Lord Howarth of Newport: My Lords, for reasons that the whole House understands and accepts, the noble Lord, Lord Reay, chose not to move his Amendment No. 1 about respecting high quality landscape. Is the Minister willing to elaborate a little on what she considers the clause as amended to mean for the duties of the panel and council and the Secretary of State as they arrive at their decisions in relation to respect for the landscape?
I am happy to see my noble friend Lord Hunt in his place and most grateful to him for his willingness to meet the noble Lord, Lord Reay, and me and for the letter that he has written to us. He said on Report that national policy statements will take account of all relevant government policy, including PPS7, and I appreciate that PPS7 confirms that great weight should be given to the designations of national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty in planning policies and development control decisions. Can the Minister confirm that PPS7 will be among matters prescribed in subsection (2)(c) of Clause 104 or other matters which the panel and the council may consider important or relevant in subsection (2)(d)?
The major development test set out paragraph 22 of PPS7 says that major developments should not take place in national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty except in exceptional circumstances. Will my noble friend tell us a little more about how strong that protection is, and how strong the protection in PPS22 and its companion guide is? Some of us fear that it will be argued, for example, that the need to provide more renewable energy in coming years constitutes an exceptional circumstance, and that adverse effects on the quality of the landscape will be considered to be outweighed by other environmental, social and economic benefits, thus justifying the festooning of our most beautiful and treasured landscapes with wind-power apparatus. Can my noble friend reassure us to any extent on that point, and can she assure us that the forthcoming national policy statement on renewable energy will robustly protect important landscapes?
I appreciate that local authorities are instructed in PPS7 to take account of landscape quality in preparing local development documents, and that local authorities will be statutory consultees where national policy statements are location-specific, as well as for pre-application and examination processes in the development consent regime, and that they will have the opportunity to provide local impact reports to the IPC. Clause 104 refers to all this. My noble friend said in the debate on a previous amendment that local impact statements will be key.
Clause 104(4) applies,
“if the Panel or Council is satisfied that deciding the application in accordance with any relevant national policy statement would lead to the United Kingdom being in breach of any of its international obligations”.
Will my noble friend tell us whether the Government will regard the European Landscape Convention as being among those international obligations, and will she confirm that PPS1 reflects that convention and will be interpreted in that sense? Will she also confirm that the Government will pay very careful heed to the advice of Natural England, as a statutory consultee for all national policy statements? Such reassurances would be helpful, but they would remain somewhat flimsy.
Finally, I ask my noble friend for two specific assurances. Will she assure the House—in terms that can be noted by the courts, which will interpret this law in due course—that, as an important environmental consideration, the conservation of the landscape falls within the scope of the Secretary of State’s duty to contribute to sustainable development in Clause 10? When, before designating a national policy statement, Ministers carry out an appraisal of its impact on sustainability, will they assess and take account of its impact on the landscape? The noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, gave the noble Lord, Lord Reay, and me such assurances in his letter, but it would be hugely helpful if my noble friend could place those assurances on the record in Hansard.
Baroness Andrews: My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, for interpreting and speaking to my amendment, which I shall say nothing more about.
I will answer quite a lot of the questions asked by my noble friend Lord Howarth by referring to the letter which my noble friend Lord Hunt of Kings Heath sent to the noble Lord, Lord Reay, but I will have to write him about others because they were even more detailed than some of the answers that he received. I will do my best not to weary the House by referring to the letter, which answers most of these questions.
National parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty have the highest status of protection for their landscape and scenic beauty, and great weight indeed should be given to them in planning policies and development control decisions. Of most relevance to this in the context of the Bill is the major development test. This is set out in paragraph 22 of PPS7, which says:
“Major developments should not take place in these designated areas, except in exceptional circumstances”.
As my noble friend Lord Hunt said on Report, national policy statements will take account of all relevant government policy, which will include PPS7 where it is relevant to that NPS.