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Planning and Energy Bill

I try to treat interventions as seriously as I can, Madam Deputy Speaker, so thank you for protecting me from any more that are not relevant to the issue. Last year, only 10 per cent. of new homes in my constituency were affordable—the worst record in London. If we include properties that were brought back into use, which my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea talked about earlier, the figure reduces to only 8 per cent. If the costs of housing development go up dramatically—say by 40 per cent., as some have suggested—that could have a significant impact on the ability of the London borough of Barnet to deliver the affordable homes that it has so far shown itself to be unable and/or unwilling to deliver. I am sure that the hon. Member for Sevenoaks does not want a reduction in affordable housing to be a potential consequence of his Bill. Perhaps he could indicate how much impact he thinks the additional costs on a local authority that would flow from new clause 1 would have on affordable housing. We are trying to achieve two desirable objects—reducing energy consumption or using energy from green sources and, at the same time, doing something about the housing shortage in my constituency, in London, and more generally across the country. He needs to consider the price tag of his Bill on a local authority considering whether to impose requirements that go beyond the national requirements. It is good to do green things, and his Bill is a good thing—we all agree on that, I hope—but we must look at the other side of the equation. Local authorities would be given these powers and told that they could impose better standards—a good and desirable thing—but they could get carried away by the great achievement of greening their borough and not think what the longer-term consequences might be. New clause 9 suggests that when a local authority decides to exercise its discretion there should be maximum consultation. I hope that the hon. Member for Sevenoaks will not object to new clause 9 when he responds. If we are in the era of consultative government, it is essential that people who will be affected by decisions are consulted about the consequences of those decisions. First, we need to consult local businesses and house builders because they will be directly affected if they are expected to meet higher standards. Residents associations and social housing providers also ought to be consulted for the reasons we have already discussed. Residents associations should be consulted if a new development is to go ahead so that we can get the consumers' point of view on whether they are prepared to pay an extra £20 a year to have their energy provided from green sources. Social housing providers should be consulted because of the impact not only on their tenants but on their ability to meet housing needs, so before any decisions are made to exercise discretion, it is essential that the hon. Gentleman accepts that, at the very least, appropriate consultation should take place. There is no need to go beyond the list that I have set out, and I am prepared to consider other suggestions. I do think, however, that new clause 9 provides for the minimum that should be required of a local authority in setting out its policies. I hope that when the hon. Gentleman comes to reply in what has been a short but, I hope, illuminating debate, he will reflect on some of what I have said, such as the need to consider the extent of microgeneration in the local authority area—we had a difficult discussion about locality and what it means—and take into account the availability of local supplies of such energy, and there are difficulties about the definition of locality in clause 1, the costs involved, the impact on housing, and the essential fact that people must be consulted if additional obligations are to be imposed on them.