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Housing and Regeneration Bill

I endorse the spirit of the amendment. The noble Baroness is to be congratulated on hitting on an extremely important issue. It has become almost a commonplace to observe that the design of the spaces between buildings is as important as the buildings themselves. That is a principle of broader application than the application in this amendment, which relates to areas of outstanding natural beauty and national parks, but we should be grateful to the noble Baroness for reminding the Committee of the importance of design and conservation in natural spaces and in spaces between buildings. That is very much in the spirit of what the Committee has already endorsed in considering other aspects of design. Therefore, I hope that the Minister will be able to reflect carefully on the very important issue raised in the amendment.