---

Planning Bill

My Lords, I am grateful for my noble friend’s intervention. Does the Minister not understand that there is a difference? I am entirely in favour of a dialogue between applicants and the local community, where it is very local or huge. That is an important part of a good planning application at any level. However, that is a different process from that of consultation of the wider community in a more unbiased and independent manner as part of a general process of consultation and participation—engagement, the Government would say—in that process. The process of dialogue between an applicant who has a strong point of view and the community is different from consulting the community about what it thinks as part of the application. Is there not a conflict here?