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Climate Change and SustainableEnergy Bill

I could not agree more with my hon. Friend. All too often the perception among my constituents and those of many other hon. Friends is that we spend a great deal of time in this place arguing with each other rather than working together to come up with practical tangible solutions. As I said earlier, the debate provides us with an opportunity to reiterate to all our constituents the need for all of us to take personal responsibility for climate control and then, on the international stage, to have a little more moral authority when putting pressure on countries such as China and the United States, so that they see that a lead needs to be taken on these issues. One aspect of the Bill on which I would particularly like to focus is the role of local authorities. To return to the issue of increasing accountability, giving them a role is an excellent way of our trying to take the policies to our communities so that we can all play a role. I particularly welcome the inclusion in the Bill of new clause 28, which was introduced by my hon. Friend the Member for Bexhill and Battle (Gregory Barker). It requires local authorities to consider microgeneration and energy efficiency in planning applications. That is especially pertinent at this time when the Government have such ambitious house building policies. Some 140,000 new houses are being built every year, and the figure will go up to 260,000.