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Housing and Regeneration Bill

moved Amendment No. 43: 43: Clause 3, page 2, line 33, leave out ““do anything it considers appropriate”” and insert ““take any reasonable actions”” The noble Lord said: I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 44 and 45, which stand in my name in the same group. Amendment No. 49A, tabled by my noble friend, is also grouped. The reason for tabling Amendment No. 43 is that the wording of the Bill seems to allow the HCA to do anything. Clause 3 states: "““The HCA may do anything it considers appropriate for the purposes of its objects or for purposes incidental to those purposes””." I was trying to think where the boundaries will lie. Presumably, there will be sensible people on the HCA who will not want to declare war on Singapore, or wherever people may want to declare war next, and that will be reserved to some other body in this country. Nevertheless, it is an extremely wide-ranging power. My amendment would delete the words, "““do anything it considers appropriate””" and insert the words ““take any reasonable actions”” as an alternative. To some extent, this is a matter of semantics, as usual, and the Minister will say, ““All public bodies and anyone exercising powers in public bodies have to behave reasonably and pass the test of reasonableness””. Nevertheless, legislation ought deliberately to curb what may be the wider excesses or zeal of some members of those bodies. Clause 3 is very wide ranging, and I am trying to restrict it a little. My second amendment, Amendment No. 44, would leave out subsection (5). It, and the next amendment, which would leave out subsection (6), are probing amendments to try to get the Minister to explain to me in words that I can understand what that all means. I have what I think is an old-fashioned view that legislation ought to be understandable by people with reasonable intelligence and a reasonable understanding of the use of the English language. People may disagree, but I consider that I fulfil both of those criteria—without going overboard—and I do not understand what that means. Clause 4(5) reads: "““Each power does not limit the scope of the powers conferred by section 3””." I do not understand what that means at all. It seems to say that the powers in Clause 3 are limitless. Subsection (6) states, "““the powers conferred by section 3 must not be used to override a restriction imposed on the exercise of a specific power””." That seems to say that the powers in Section 3 are limited by any other specific powers in the Bill and any other statute. I do not understand how the powers in Clause 3, Clause 4(5) and Clause 4(6)(b) relate to each other. Perhaps the Minister can explain that. While she is doing that, perhaps she can explain why subsection (6)(a) states that, "““subsections (2) and (3) do not apply to the HCA””," when it is designated as the local planning authority. There is clearly some technical reason for that, but it would be nice to understand it. I beg to move.