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Parish Councils (Planning)

I agree entirely and hope that if the review is genuine and open-minded, and if we sort out the layers of local government, we will parish parts of urban Britain that wish it. I do not believe it should be imposed. It should be done through the will of the community, but there are ways in which that can be demonstrated and value shown. My desire is for a straightforward move towards unitary government, which could be done and could be made popular. It could then begin to link better with health provision and other elements, including the police, which is a controversial area. We certainly need greater cohesion in the decision-making process, and I shall say no more on that score. I feel strongly that there is a need for much greater thought on how structural changes are made, including in local government. I entirely agree with the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome about the roles of training and of the parish councillor and the clerk. The clerks, remember, have legal authority to ensure that they advise parish and town councillors correctly, which is vital. Let me give one final plug to the university of Gloucestershire, which has done a lot of work in this area across the country. It started locally in offering advice on village appraisals and town plans, but it goes wider than that now in running courses across the country. I have spoken on those courses on many occasions because I happen to be local. That is the way forward—to build expertise and get people to stand for election without feeling vulnerable or as though their time is being wasted. That will lead to a better planning process. In the end, we all want a planning process that is fair, transparent and works as quickly as possible so that people get a decision. In some cases that will be a refusal, because the planning process should not be a pushover. There should not be a presumption in favour of approval. As the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome said, precedent is often disastrous. If the first window is put in wrongly, all the subsequent windows will be put in wrongly. I have had some dreadful cases locally where that has resulted in people being threatened with enforcement. I hope that the issue will be taken seriously. We have had a longer debate on it than we anticipated, and the hon. Gentleman deserves congratulations on raising it. As my friend Stephen Wright, from the Gloucester rural community council reminds us, the parish system is not the lowest level of government, but the first. Long may it continue and long may we have the planning process we deserve through appropriate investment in that level of government.