Speeches by Hinchliff.

“Will the Minister give way?”

“More social housing is essential but, as Members across the House will know, increasingly distant housing associations are often far too quick to put up fees and far too slow to tackle damp, mould and disrepair. What more will the Minister do to ensure that future public funding comes with clear strings attached to req…”

“I welcome this statement. The public must have confidence that political decisions are made in their interests, not those of wealthy donors. Nowhere is that more important than in relation to the housing crisis, where there are also significant concerns that vested interests are seeking to exert significant influence o…”

“There are widespread concerns that we are way off our national biodiversity targets. Does the Minister agree that there must be no further backward steps on environmental protections, and that we must set clear red lines for nature?”

“Similarly, if you could share those examples in writing, it would be helpful. What you are referring to makes me think that a lot of these sources of air pollution are transboundary or move quite a lot. How realistic is it for us to think that we can substantially limit exposure to those pollutants that are clearly not…”

“Ms Legge, you have already referred to how we are falling behind some of the targets in Scotland and the EU. Briefly, are there other jurisdictions that you would point to as leading the way on tackling air pollution, not just in the targets they set but in how they monitor and implement them? What are the best jurisdi…”

“Sorry, I am quite conscious of time. That is a very sensible principle to apply, but I want to nail that point. Some of this is out of our control, isn’t it? Do we have to accept a certain amount of this in our lives because we cannot control the sources that are not within our decision-making power? How would you resp…”

“Ms Legge, any advances on that?”

“That leads on nicely to my next question, but if you want to write to the Committee to highlight any particular examples from other jurisdictions that you think it would be worth us being aware of, that would be helpful.”

“I thank the Minister for setting the scene. Would he reflect back to the House that, notwithstanding what he has said, there is a clear pattern of a lack of reliable communication, a failure to enforce payments and what often seems like an inability to keep in line with legislation? Does he recognise that what we are a…”

“I guessed that others would raise the issue of potholes and poor safety today, so I want to make another point about the state of our rural roads. To put it bluntly, they are filthy. Driving through the countryside should be a reminder of much that is best and beautiful about our nation. Instead, in many places, it has…”

“Thank you. Coming straight back to you, Mr Tubby, I think for many people in this country, the iconic image in our mind of the ancient woodland may well be Wistman’s wood—one of our temperate rainforests and a remaining fragment of that particular type of ancient woodland. Would you agree with the campaigners who have …”

“Would anyone else on the panel like to comment on the changes in planning policy and whether they will put any additional ancient woodland at risk?”

“That is good to hear. This is in the context of planning policy, which has experienced quite significant upheaval—some might say deregulation. Do you have any concerns that the changes in planning policy will put more ancient woodland at risk?”

“DEFRA recently published a review of the implementation of the planning protections afforded to ancient woodland in the NPPF and found that, “Almost half of applications were approved without a proper assessment of possible loss or deterioration and without mitigation measures in place to avoid negative impacts” to the…”

“My questions relate primarily to planning policy protection. I will focus on you, Dr Weatherall, but if other members of the panel want to come in please feel free. We recently had a debate in Westminster Hall about the value of our woodlands, and many people there spoke about how great our ancient woodlands are. There…”

“So, you are still happy with GDP, primarily.”

“Do you think that GDP is the right measure to be focusing on in your goal of having prosperity and nature hand in hand?”

“Secretary of State, I have a philosophical question. Given that you came into your current role from a previous role in the Treasury, I thought it would be interesting to know whether you agree with the Dasgupta review: “Our unsustainable engagement with nature is endangering the prosperity of current and future genera…”

“Is there anything in relation to the NPPF? Are you having similar conversations in relation to the draft NPPF?”