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Planning Bill

My Lords, I thank the Minister for removing the anomaly that in effect would have made CIL a tax on gain, and making it properly into a charge for development. That in itself is welcome. I have some sympathy with the difficulty of my noble friend who wants a clear and clean solution to the issue of the Planning-gain Supplement (Preparations) Act 2007. Equally, I listened to the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, who raised the valid point that it is a piece of legislation that has only been empowered to be brought forward. However, I understand that it was not brought forward because it had not been drafted. I want to go back to what the Minister said about developing a system for a single payment in London to be paid through the boroughs. Again, I am grateful to hear about that. However, it may well leave the mayor in a difficult position because at the moment each London borough will be able to set a level for CIL that will have to be agreed by using a single viability test after the mayor has produced his CIL assessment. The process is fine, but I merely observe that the mayor may well not be able to set a single CIL rate; there may have to be a separate rate for each borough because each one has the right to set its own CIL rate. The viability test is on a combination of the two. That might mean that the overall London CIL rate perforce has to be varied borough by borough. It will put the mayor in a complicated situation. It is a point that the Minister may want to think about. That is my observation. I do not know whether there is an easy way around the issue, but I do not think there is. We should be aware of the difficulties that are going to be caused.