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Planning Bill

My Lords, I, like other noble Lords, am most grateful to the Minister for the enormous energy that she has put into striving for the best possible legislation; she is probably conscious that she is nearing sainthood in this House. My name is attached to Amendments Nos. 19, 21 and 25, and I support what the noble Lords, Lord Shutt, Lord Cameron and Lord Hodgson, have said. I do not want to detain the House by repeating arguments or by trying to embellish them in any way. I would simply appeal to the Minister and the House to strive to produce crisp, clear-cut and unambiguous legislation, which is unencumbered with unnecessary compliance or regulatory complexity, so that the whole of the charitable sector can get on with its valuable work for the public good and for the public benefit, and so that scarce resources do not have to be diverted into overcoming a plethora of new, complex hurdles. Like other noble Lords, I, too, wait expectantly for the Minister’s reply.