Speeches by Amos.

“Both are possible.”

“I note in particular the Minister’s concern about proceeding with undue haste—I am sure that that is the furthest thing from the mind of this Committee. Without wishing to proceed with undue haste, I suggest that he is imputing to our amendment words that it does not contain. He is suggesting that it would deprioritise…”

“Where’s my espresso?”

“I very much sympathise with the amendment. Indeed, I have air quality management areas in my constituency of Taunton and Wellington, including two that breach the lawful limits of air pollution. We desperately need the bypass for Thornfalcon and Henlade, which would solve that particular issue. In brief, I feel that th…”

“I rise to support amendment 1 and speak to amendment 30, which my hon. Friend the Member for Didcot and Wantage will talk about, and amendment 28, in my name, which relates to local wildlife sites. Amendment 28 would require spatial development strategies to take account of local wildlife sites and include policies tha…”

“I beg to move amendment 88, in clause 47, page 66, line 1, leave out “may” and insert “must”. This amendment would create a requirement that spatial development strategies specify infrastructure of strategic importance for the purposes set out in subsection (4).”

“I will not give way. I need to get back to the present day, if the hon. Gentleman will forgive me. It is important to dwell not on the proposed cuts of £22 billion to capital expenditure from 2009-10 onwards that the outgoing Labour Government were proposing, but on the reality of the situation that faces people who ne…”

“I am grateful to the Minister for correcting me on that point. He is absolutely right that there is a provision stating that consultation responses must be taken into account, but there is no duty to consult and no requirement, and it is the same for community involvement. In fact, the Bill explicitly states that there…”

“I beg to move amendment 120, in clause 47, page 70, leave out line 40 and insert— “(5) A strategic planning authority must prepare and consult on a statement of community involvement which provides for persons affected by the strategy to have a right to be heard at an examination.” I want to discuss participation in an…”

“I rise to speak to amendments 90 and 91—hon. Members will be pleased to hear that I will be brief. We have significant concerns about community involvement in consultation and about many of the points that have just been made. I have more to say on all that for the next group, in which we have tabled an amendment to ma…”

“I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Amendment proposed: 123, in clause 47, page 66, line 7, at end insert— “(4A) For the purposes of subsection (4), ‘infrastructure and public services’ must include— (a) primary and secondary healthcare provision, including mental health provis…”

“We have always accepted and we support that allocation of funding to social housing, but a theme in Government thinking seems to be that the delivery of more homes through the private sector will bring prices down. If the Minister wishes to correct me, he should feel free to do so. That was my central point: we cannot …”

“I beg to move amendment 29, in clause 47, page 65, line 36, at end insert— “(2A) A spatial development strategy must have regard to the need to provide 150,000 new social homes nationally a year.” This amendment would require spatial development strategy to have regard to the need to provide 150,000 social homes nation…”

“I appreciate that the Minister is hoping that spatial development strategies will make provision for that, but does he accept that the wording in the Bill is that they will provide for either mitigation or adaptation? That is the wording on the face of the Bill, is it not?”

“Does my hon. Friend agree that the Minister’s supportive comments about the delivery of infrastructure, how it will unlock housing and how it needs to come forward to do so mean that he must be lending his support to the reopening of Wellington station in my constituency, which would unlock several thousand new homes? …”

“I am grateful for the Minister’s response, but I remain concerned. The Bill states: “A spatial development strategy may specify or describe infrastructure the provision of which the strategic planning authority considers to be of strategic importance”. Particularly if the Government will not accept the amendment discus…”

“We wish to press the amendment to a vote, because we believe in the right to be heard and, in general, we are highly concerned about the potential erosion of the democratic planning system by the Bill. Question put, That the amendment be made.”

“The Committee will be delighted to hear that I will be extremely brief on this topic. Simply put, there is no provision for how often a spatial development strategy should be reviewed, and our amendment proposes that it be done annually. It may be that annually is not be the appropriate timeframe, but there should be r…”

“I beg to move amendment 124, in clause 47, page 74, line 10, leave out “from time to time” and insert “annually”.”

“I am sure we can hardly contain our excitement about moving on to another clause. Amendment 12 would require that conservation measures undertaken within environmental development plans should “significantly” protect environmental features. Clause 48 is definitional, introducing the concept of environmental delivery pl…”