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Flood and Water Management Bill

I welcome the social tariff. Earlier today I pointed out the parallel with the council tax. It is a great disappointment to me, though not a great surprise, that the Opposition Front-Bench team is showing such hostility to that clause. There are sophisticated ways of dealing with it. Graduated methods can be used. To repeat that the poor will be subsidising the very poor is not accurate. It is important to remember that there are more sophisticated methods than a blanket cut-off point. We are proud to introduce the measure, and I am glad that we have had support from the Liberal Democrats. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Makerfield (Mr. McCartney) said, we need to recognise the extraordinary contribution that has been made over the years because there has been no relief from water charges. A disproportionate amount of people's income has been spent on essential infrastructure projects. I shall speak briefly about Government amendment 54. The whole of schedule 3 is crucial because it deals with the idea that we must think about the future. Every time we build, we must think about what we are going to do with the excess surface water. One of the things that has worried me is that in some areas where there are unitary authorities, the same authority which, as the planning authority, will consider planning applications, will also comment on the flood risk and sustainable drainage systems. We needed Government amendment 54 to strengthen the position of the Minister and enable him to demand certain standards, introduce regulations and specify the consequences of failure to comply. That amendment is extremely important, particularly where the unitary authority is itself the applicant in a planning application. Without that ministerial intervention and check, the same authority could be acting as applicant, judge of a planning application, and the warder of flood risk. I join hon. Members in saying that we are proud that the Minister has put in the community halls concession and enabled groups such as scout groups and the Urdd in Wales to continue to provide a good service without having to put all their money by for additional water charges, when they had other activities planned. Lastly, I am very pleased that although it is a complicated procedure and will take time, the Bill tackles the adoption of private sewers. That is extremely important for many of my constituents.