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Planning and Energy Bill

My Lords, I am delighted with the support for the Bill from all sides of the House, which augurs well for its progress. I very much congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Mogg, on his excellent maiden speech. I hope that he will participate in our deliberations on the Bill, which may be fairly brief. We look forward to his participation in the rest of our work. I again congratulate him on his excellent maiden speech. The noble Lord, Lord Judd, as always, raised several points. I think that even he agreed with the Bill’s ethos and did not say much against it, which also augurs well for its progress. As I expected, the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, with her local government background, very much supported localism and the involvement of local councils. The Minister referred to a government amendment to the Bill. I do not envisage there being any problem with that but we shall discuss it in Committee. He referred to the amendments that had been agreed in the other place, which appear to have made the Bill acceptable to the Government. I am pleased that the Government have now agreed to support the Bill and have accepted it as a worthwhile piece of legislation. There are already a lot of local initiatives and I am sure that the Bill will encourage them. The noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, referred to a supermarket. I refer to park-and-ride sites where energy is being generated by windmill power. Therefore, all sorts of things are happening and the more we encourage local authorities to innovate and come up with ideas, the more we shall do to help reach the formidable targets which the Government have set, to which the noble Lord, Lord Mogg, referred. I repeat that I am very pleased with the reception the Bill has received here today and I look forward to its further stages. On Question, Bill read a second time, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House.