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Planning and Energy Bill

Indeed. The real problem is that the Minister might think that he knows what ““locality”” means, just as my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing, North and I think that we know what it means, but we might all have a slightly different idea. The real problem is that, if the language is imprecise, the lawyers will inevitably get hold of it and argue about it to the nth degree in the courts. That is one of the problems associated with my former profession. I was very pleased that when the hon. Gentleman and I discussed my amendments he assured me that all the things that I advocated would be included under the wording of the Bill. He will recall that the first group of amendments that we discussed concerned insulation, and he reassured me that insulation would be brought within the requirements of clause 1(1)(c), which covers the question of energy efficiency standards. That squares an important circle, because when we are considering energy policy the driving force has to be to do what we can to reduce consumption in the first place. The hon. Gentleman was also able to reassure me that microgeneration, which is not specifically referred to in the Bill, will be brought in. He took me to task as he thought my wording was a little too lax in that respect. I am happy to concede that point. We had a problem with what local supplies meant in this context. It seemed to me from looking at the available research materials that the difficulty was identifying what local supplies might be when considering energy generated in the locality of a development. If we are talking about microgeneration, that is not a problem. I suppose we are talking about energy generated in one place being transferred to a nearby site. I was pleased that the hon. Gentleman was able to reassure me about the impact on housing policy. If the net result is that we end up with fewer houses for people in desperate need, that will mean that we will have thrown the baby out with the bathwater. I was also pleased that the Minister was able to reassure me on the question of consultation. When one is going to produce a policy that is likely to have such a wide impact as we all hope that this policy will, it is important that those who are affected by it are consulted. I am pleased that that has been brought into the Bill through the cross-references to various national policies.