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Planning Bill

My Lords, I declare an interest as a vice-president of the Local Government Association and the Association of Police Authorities. I intervene at this late stage in this Bill with some trepidation, partly because I spent 26 years as an elected member of local and regional government trying to avoid ever having anything to do with planning decisions, but more particularly, because I have not previously successfully intervened in these debates. Having twice put down amendments at Committee and on Report, I thought it was inappropriate, having not been available to move them on those occasions, to put them down at Third Reading. However, Amendment No. 26, which we are considering in this group, gives me the opportunity to make a point. I am grateful to the Minister for arranging for me to meet officials on the question of why there is actually quite a long list of items of infrastructure in Clause 215, yet policing and emergency services are missed out. If I understand the argument that was put to me, I was told that the list was not intended to be exhaustive, but merely to set the boundaries of the sorts of things that might be included in the term ““infrastructure””. If things such as emergency services, policing and fire services and so on were included that might turn it into an exhaustive list, which it is not. I am concerned that we will end up with a dog’s breakfast in Clause 215. We will have a list of items which will include some things and not others. It will include so many things that it might no longer be said to be just giving a few vague examples of things that might be deemed to be infrastructure for these purposes. It will end up providing a list. There is already evidence that local authorities are looking at it and saying that its implication is that those items included specifically in Clause 215 are what is really meant by infrastructure and those should be the priority in any community infrastructure levy. I hope that, in responding to Amendment No. 26 and the group, my noble friend will therefore make it clear that the list is not exhaustive and that she will give us a few more examples of what might be included, for the benefit of local authorities. Obviously, railways and airports—they have been discussed at previous stages of the Bill—could be included, but it should also be clear that the list includes policing and emergency services. I hope that she will be able to say that, because it is without question that many large developments require additional investments in policing and emergency services. The evidence is that large developments often bring with them increases in crime, and that there are issues about police response times and how you make sure that the development combats crime and disorder. Interestingly, the recent PPS12 advised that the core strategy within a local planning authority area should be prescriptive in terms of certain infrastructure requirements. It then listed a number of areas that should be identified as part of that process, including everything listed in Clause 215(2) and—it was the only ““and””—the police. For some reason, when the list turns up in Clause 215(2), policing and emergency services are missed out. I hope that my noble friend will understand why there is concern about that strange list and that, in her response, she will clarify once and for all not only that the list is not exhaustive but that policing and emergency services—and, of course, railways—should be included.