---

Planning Bill

My Lords, I recall introducing some years ago a debate about the use of the splendid buildings at Greenwich. When we were looking through the estate agent’s particulars, we discovered that there is a mini nuclear reactor on the site. Members on these Benches are not in the business of detracting from local autonomy, so I speak to this amendment in order to urge clarity in understanding what applies to what rather than seeking to use national policy statements to impose policy at the local level. If the Government want to do that, they should do so through planning policy statements. I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, for raising the issue. While I do not want to attribute this to other noble Lords, I am still quite confused about the hierarchy. When I raised a not completely unrelated issue last week on planning policy statements, the Minister said that they were ““fundamentally different”” as they are drawn up for different purposes, and distinguished the IPC where the NPS is the primary policy framework. I think that she could see my confusion—we were coming to the end of a fairly long day—and she said that she would write to me. I do not criticise the fact that I have not had a letter yet, as it has only been one or two working days, but we must finish our consideration of the Bill understanding exactly what the hierarchy is. If it is not a hierarchy but a series of completely separate pigeonholes, we need to understand that as well.