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Planning Bill

moved Amendment No. 129: 129: After Clause 195, insert the following new Clause— ““Meaning of ““local authority”” in planning Acts In section 336(1) of TCPA 1990 (interpretation) in the definition of ““local authority”” after paragraph (aa) insert— ““(ab) the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority;””.”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, I shall speak to Government Amendments Nos. 129 and 163. The noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee and the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, raised the difficulties faced by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority and tabled Amendment No. 432A in Committee to make the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority a local authority for the purposes of Section 237 of the Town and Country Planning Act. The Minister agreed to reflect further on the points raised. We decided that the best way forward would be to put the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority in the same position as its predecessor, the London Fire and Civil Defence Authority, which was a precepting authority and so fell within the definition of a local authority in the TCPA, and in, by extension, the other planning Acts. The London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority functions, in the main, like combined fire and rescue authorities, which are also specifically defined as local authorities. It might also be said to have a similar status within London’s government as the Metropolitan Police Authority, which is also defined as a local authority in the TCPA. All these organisations are found in the definition of a local authority in Section 336(1) of the Town and Country Planning Act. The new clause introduced by Amendment No. 129 will mean that the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority will join them. Amendment No. 163 adds the new clause to those provisions in Clause 233 which will come into force two months after Royal Assent. I beg to move.