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Planning Bill

My Lords, I, too, put my name to Amendments Nos. 34 and 35 because I believe that Clause 9 is at the heart of the Bill. As the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, said only a moment ago, the role of national policy statements is key. If we get this clause right, the Bill will work and the IPC will have the authority to act resolutely and speedily. If we get it wrong, then delays through judicial inquiries and other challenges will ensue as surely as night follows day. In Committee, the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, said that no one can argue with—there is no argument against—the authority of Parliament. I disagree with the noble Lord, Lord Dixon-Smith. I would have thought that in this case the Commons would have supremacy over the Lords on national policy statements. With the authority of Parliament, which is required, there is nothing more to be said, but the Government have to decide whether Parliament is allowed to question the power of the Executive and make the Bill work, or whether these national policy statements are to be merely equivalent to White Papers or planning policy statements emerging from departmental think tanks and continually challenged by the courts. I do not think that should be the case. As we have all said many times before, national policy statements are new animals. They will be the essence of the new system. They must have the full authority of Parliament for the IPC to be able to do its work expeditiously and thus effectively.