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Debate on bill and Committee proceeding on Monday, 26 January 2009, in the House of Lords.

Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill (HL). Lords Committee stage third day. Clauses 5 to 10 agreed to. Clause 11 under consideration. Grand Committee held in the Moses Room.

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
707 c1-60GC 
Session
2008-09
Department
Department for Communities and Local Government
Legislative stage
Committee stage
Procedure
New clauses
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords Grand Committee
Related items
Proceeding contributions
Baroness Hamwee | 707 c2-3GC (Link to this contribution) Perhaps that is not the best phrase to use today. Funding from central government to local authoriti...
Show all contributions (93)
Baroness Andrews | 707 c24-7GC (Link to this contribution) I am overwhelmed by the welcome that the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, has given the clause in both its ...
Baroness Andrews | 707 c54-5GC (Link to this contribution) I shall draw a veil over this; let us press on. We want to have a balance of access and burden. Wit...
Lord Greaves | 707 c47-8GC (Link to this contribution) This is a long group—I shall speak also to Amendments 82, 85, 86, 91, 105, 116 and 137—but they are ...
Baroness Andrews | 707 c44GC (Link to this contribution) They will not have to dismantle their schemes. We are putting a duty on councils to create a legal s...
Baroness Andrews | 707 c19-20GC (Link to this contribution) I got the date wrong, by the sound of it, but I remember that there was significant development in l...
Lord Greaves | 707 c22GC (Link to this contribution) Clause 10: Electronic petitions Amendment 78 78: Clause 10, page 6, line 33, at end insert— ““( ) ...
Baroness Harris of Richmond | 707 c1GC (Link to this contribution) If there is a Division in the Chamber while we are sitting, the Committee will adjourn as soon as th...
Baroness Hamwee | 707 c2GC (Link to this contribution) Before I speak to my amendments in this group, I should like to thank noble Lords for their kind mes...
Baroness Warsi | 707 c3-4GC (Link to this contribution) I welcome back the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee. She will have noted in Hansard our good wishes and t...
Baroness Hamwee | 707 c2GC (Link to this contribution) I am very happy to be joint with the noble Lords, Lord Graham of Edmonton and Lord Jenkin of Roding....
Lord Patel of Bradford | 707 c28GC (Link to this contribution) This may be a convenient moment for the Committee to adjourn for 10 minutes. Sitting suspended.
Lord Greaves | 707 c32-4GC (Link to this contribution) No, there is not one; we cannot find it. I am following that up with some—I will not say colleagues,...
Baroness Hamwee | 707 c59-60GC (Link to this contribution) My point about a judicial review was not about a claim in relation to a breach of statutory duty; it...
Lord Greaves | 707 c55-6GC (Link to this contribution) In our part of the world we always say, ““people who live, work, study or play””, but then we live i...
Lord Greaves | 707 c58GC (Link to this contribution) Before the Minister replies, can I have a copy of the letter about petitions? I do not think that I ...
Baroness Andrews | 707 c48-50GC (Link to this contribution) I shall explain again why we have gone down the route of defining petitions as ““valid””. It is part...
Lord Greaves | 707 c47GC (Link to this contribution) Amendment 81 81: Clause 11, page 7, line 9, leave out ““valid””
Lord Greaves | 707 c44GC (Link to this contribution) I underline what my noble friend Lord Tope has just said. There is nothing between us in the wish to...
Lord Tope | 707 c35-6GC (Link to this contribution) I do not mean to offend my noble friend Lady Hamwee, whose drafting is of course always perfect. How...
Lord Smith of Leigh | 707 c37-8GC (Link to this contribution) With some regret, I confess that I have sympathy with the noble Lords opposite in their demands, but...
Lord Graham of Edmonton | 707 c24GC (Link to this contribution) Will my noble friend clarify the position of trade unions and their representatives and their abilit...
Lord Greaves | 707 c9-10GC (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the Minister’s assurance that he will try to do that. We will be interested to see...
Lord Patel of Bradford | 707 c9GC (Link to this contribution) The noble Lord raises an important point. We were referring to the principal local authorities that ...
Lord Greaves | 707 c10-1GC (Link to this contribution) Amendment 68 68: Clause 5, page 5, line 19, leave out subsection (5) and insert— ““( ) In a county ...
Lord Greaves | 707 c15GC (Link to this contribution) Quite so. I am again grateful to the Minister for giving me a detailed response, but I am not sure ...
Baroness Warsi | 707 c16GC (Link to this contribution) Amendment 72 72: After Clause 5, insert the following new Clause— ““Impact assessment A principal l...
Lord Greaves | 707 c16GC (Link to this contribution) That seems to be a step forward. As far as the point in subsection (6) is concerned, I do not think ...
Baroness Hamwee | 707 c17GC (Link to this contribution) The short impact assessment, which is part of the Explanatory Notes, tells us that the duties in Cha...
Lord Brooke of Sutton Mandeville | 707 c17-8GC (Link to this contribution) The noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, will recall that at an earlier stage of these proceedings I allude...
Lord Greaves | 707 c1-2GC (Link to this contribution) In moving Amendment 65, I shall also speak to my Amendment 66 and to Clause 6 stand part. My noble f...
Lord Greaves | 707 c27-8GC (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for that detailed reply. The only point that I want to come back on is...
Lord Tope | 707 c34-5GC (Link to this contribution) I speak to Amendments 80 and 83 standing in my name and that of my noble friend Lady Hamwee, which h...
Lord Patel of Bradford | 707 c60GC (Link to this contribution) I believe that someone could go to judicial review now, too, whatever their situation. I have a note...
Lord Patel of Bradford | 707 c58-9GC (Link to this contribution) Yes, we will make that available. I will be brief. Amendment 87 proposes a change to Clause 11(7), ...
Baroness Hamwee | 707 c57-8GC (Link to this contribution) My noble friend Lord Tope and I have added our names to this amendment, which is part of the package...
Baroness Andrews | 707 c53-4GC (Link to this contribution) This has been an interesting and useful debate, although it has made me quite nostalgic for Chapter ...
Lord Graham of Edmonton | 707 c53GC (Link to this contribution) It is difficult to find precisely the right part of the Bill to raise this issue. Clause 16 is heade...
Baroness Warsi | 707 c52-3GC (Link to this contribution) We return here to the issue of defining the term ““local people””, which we debated on the first day...
Lord Greaves | 707 c50GC (Link to this contribution) I listened with interest to the Minister taking apart Amendments 82, 85 and 86; they are there only ...
Lord Greaves | 707 c50GC (Link to this contribution) Amendment 84 84: Clause 11, page 7, line 18, at end insert ““or use or are affected by any of its s...
Lord Greaves | 707 c38GC (Link to this contribution) I shall have to make some inquiries at the Public Bill Office.
Lord Smith of Leigh | 707 c38GC (Link to this contribution) There might be a secret subsection that we do not know about. I ask the Minister to think about the...
Baroness Warsi | 707 c36-7GC (Link to this contribution) The new clause proposed by the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, catapults us straight into the heart of the...
Baroness Maddock | 707 c37GC (Link to this contribution) I particularly support my noble friends in talking about how many councils actually respond to petit...
Baroness Warsi | 707 c60GC (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister for his detailed response. I want the opportunity to reread those comments. I s...
Baroness Warsi | 707 c21-2GC (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister for her reply. There is some detail that I might have to come back to, so I sha...
Baroness Hamwee | 707 c23-4GC (Link to this contribution) I should like to use my noble friend’s objection to Clause 10 standing part of the Bill to ask a cou...
Lord Greaves | 707 c8-9GC (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister for his response. I have a small point. He wondered why Amendment 66 had been t...
Baroness Hamwee | 707 c8GC (Link to this contribution) I have one final point. The noble Lord referred to the topics that might be covered in guidance. Lik...
Baroness Warsi | 707 c13GC (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to be able to say to the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, that I have more sympathy with this ...
Lord Patel of Bradford | 707 c15GC (Link to this contribution) My understanding is that it is both those things, in terms of where you live also. The county must p...
Lord Greaves | 707 c15-6GC (Link to this contribution) Yes, which is why we then go on to the belief that the council that is probably most efficient and e...
Baroness Warsi | 707 c16-7GC (Link to this contribution) I shall speak also to Amendment 135. This group of amendments is designed simply to ensure that prin...
Lord Smith of Leigh | 707 c18GC (Link to this contribution) In declaring my interest as leader of a local authority, I reassure the Committee that if somebody a...
Lord Greaves | 707 c18GC (Link to this contribution) I can respond very briefly to the noble Lord, Lord Smith of Leigh, as I agree with him that most loc...
Lord Greaves | 707 c1GC (Link to this contribution) Amendment 65 65: Clause 5, page 5, line 9, at end insert— ““( ) On request from the principal local...
Baroness Hamwee | 707 c8GC (Link to this contribution) I, too, noted the reference to best practice advice. I will try not to anticipate what my noble frie...
Baroness Maddock | 707 c7-8GC (Link to this contribution) The Minister has explained carefully how he sees the balance between guidance for and prescription t...
Lord Patel of Bradford | 707 c4-7GC (Link to this contribution) I welcome back the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee. It is good to have her back posing challenging quest...
Baroness Andrews | 707 c28GC (Link to this contribution) This is an important point and we should certainly look at how local authorities running petition sc...
Lord Greaves | 707 c28GC (Link to this contribution) The time has come to beg leave to withdraw Amendment 78. Amendment 78 withdrawn. Amendments 79 and...
Lord Greaves | 707 c28-9GC (Link to this contribution) Amendment 79B 79B: After Clause 10, insert the following new Clause— ““Duty to receive and deal wit...
Lord Greaves | 707 c29-32GC (Link to this contribution) This is a good opportunity to have a substantive debate about quite a few things relating to petitio...
Baroness Warsi | 707 c56GC (Link to this contribution) Amendment 87 87: Clause 11, page 7, line 23, leave out ““Subject to that,””
Lord Greaves | 707 c54GC (Link to this contribution) I have now remembered why that was a good instance to raise. Some of the market traders who signed t...
Baroness Warsi | 707 c56-7GC (Link to this contribution) I have a feeling that Amendment 87 is another amendment which the noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, may ...
Baroness Andrews | 707 c53GC (Link to this contribution) I will be happy to do that. We will have a good debate and clearly my noble friend will have somethi...
Lord Greaves | 707 c51GC (Link to this contribution) I am not sure that a petition to Hillingdon council is the right thing to do. If you are upset about...
Lord Greaves | 707 c51-2GC (Link to this contribution) Yes, perhaps. However, if the airport is council-owned, there is no reason, just because you happene...
Lord Graham of Edmonton | 707 c53GC (Link to this contribution) Will the noble Baroness tell me when we do reach the right place?
Lord Greaves | 707 c50-1GC (Link to this contribution) We are now well into the petition schemes. Clause 11 states: "““A principal local authority must mak...
Lord Greaves | 707 c44-7GC (Link to this contribution) I was going to come on to that point next. We are going to discuss the difference between valid peti...
Lord Tope | 707 c43-4GC (Link to this contribution) I echo my noble friend. Many petitions typically relate to planning applications, and it is not alwa...
Baroness Andrews | 707 c38-42GC (Link to this contribution) This has been a very good debate and I agree with an awful lot of what has been said. My speaking no...
Baroness Maddock | 707 c42-3GC (Link to this contribution) The Minister talked about responses to petitions and in particular about a YouGov poll that said tha...
Lord Patel of Bradford | 707 c60GC (Link to this contribution) This may be a convenient moment for the Committee to adjourn until Wednesday at 3.45 pm.
Baroness Andrews | 707 c21GC (Link to this contribution) I know the pain that the redistribution formula causes. Essex is a relatively wealthy local authorit...
Lord Hanningfield | 707 c20-1GC (Link to this contribution) I apologise that I was not here at the beginning; I hope that the noble Baroness will accept an inte...
Baroness Andrews | 707 c18-9GC (Link to this contribution) I start by replying to the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Brooke, as he has raised it twice in C...
Lord Greaves | 707 c22-3GC (Link to this contribution) We are on to Chapter 2. Clause 10 is the first clause about petitions, which may detain us for an ho...
Lord Patel of Bradford | 707 c13-5GC (Link to this contribution) The amendments explore how districts fit into the arrangements for the provision of information abou...
Lord Greaves | 707 c11-2GC (Link to this contribution) I shall also speak to the other amendments in the group, Amendments 69, 70 and 71. They probe the re...
Baroness Maddock | 707 c15GC (Link to this contribution) I fear that the Minister’s comments have again prompted me to intervene. I think that he said that d...
Subjects
Costs County councils Eligibility Information Internet District councils Local government Local government services Public participation Staff Petitions
Legislation
Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill (HL) 2008-09
Link
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