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Planning Bill

My Lords, I have Amendment No. 40 in this group. It would amend Clause 11, which lists points reflected in the Government’s amendments. We have seen the list before. My amendment would change Clause 11(2) to require the Secretary of State to suspend operation if he thought that there had been a significant change in circumstances, that the change had not been anticipated and that, if it had been, policy would have been materially different. This should not be discretionary. One would expect that the Secretary of State must and should suspend the operation. I compare this clause with Clause 6, which is a ““must”” clause. It says: "““The Secretary of State must review each national policy statement whenever the Secretary of State thinks it appropriate to do so””," and then ““must do”” one of the three things set out below. I shall probably get an answer saying that ““may”” is awfully close to ““must””. I do not suppose that by the time I have done 25 or 35 years in this place, I shall ever quite understand that. I am pleased to see the Government’s amendments. I look forward to hearing what the Minister has to say, but I provisionally give them a welcome.