Speeches by Amos.

“I am grateful to the Minister for the Government’s response to the proposals. I can only restate some of the concerns we have about potential conflicts of interest in relation to Natural England administering, collecting and spending the money, and judging its own effectiveness. The fact that the Secretary of State is …”

“I will spend a few moments on these amendments, because they concern the important oversight body, and I will speak to them together, so Committee members need not fear—I do not have five separate speeches. I know how disappointed they will be. The amendments are about an independent oversight body for Natural England.…”

“I beg to move amendment 23, in clause 66, page 97, line 13, leave out “separately” and insert “to the body established under section [Independent oversight of administration of nature restoration levy]”. This amendment is consequential on NC18. This amendment would require Natural England to report to an independent ov…”

“As always, I am grateful to the Minister for his intervention. I would argue that it is possible to carry out the actions that he described without unreasonable delay, which is what our amendment seeks. The Government cannot have it both ways: on the one hand, it is ambiguous; on the other hand, it would definitely mea…”

“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…”

“Both are possible.”

“I will be reasonably brief—the Committee will be pleased to know that I have been striking sections out of my speaking notes as the Committee days wear on. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear!”] Louder! Amendment 9 would ensure that funding was available up front from the nature restoration levy and to provide mitigation on dev…”

“I beg to move amendment 9, in clause 66, page 96, line 20, at end insert— “(1A) The regulations must require Natural England to ensure that use of money received by virtue of the nature restoration levy is not unreasonably delayed.” The amendment would ensure that funding would be available for upfront nature restorati…”

“It is a privilege to continue to serve the Committee with you back in the Chair, Mrs Hobhouse. The mitigation hierarchy is incredibly important. In fact, the Liberal Democrats were aiming to put down an amendment very similar to this one, but the hon. Member for North Herefordshire beat us to it—congratulations to her …”

“I appreciate the Minister’s explanation. He addressed a number of the points in our amendment, including that an EDP should not be amended to reduce the amount or extent of conservation measures. He explained that in circumstances in which there is a reduction in development, there might be a need to reduce the amount …”

“It is with great excitement that we move on to another clause. I will speak briefly, but this is an important amendment. In the same way that protests from developers, in another part of the planning system, about viability end up affecting the outcomes of planning applications by, in particular, reducing social housin…”

“Broken Tory promises!”

“Does the Minister know that the same “significant” test under the Environment Act 2021 has not been subject to a single legal challenge?”

“I am grateful to the Minister; I will give him an opportunity to move on to our amendment 14, which I hope he agrees is in the spirit of that approach. I sympathise with the point made by the shadow Minister, and I understand the qualitative difference with a site-by-site approach, in which outcomes may more easily be …”

“rose—”

“Will the Minister give way?”

“Amendment 29 would give effect to the Liberal Democrat target of building 150,000 new social homes per year by introducing such a requirement into spatial development strategies. It is a commitment set out in our manifesto, alongside a funding commitment of £6 billion per annum of capital investment—above current level…”

“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…”

“So when do we vote on amendments 75 and 82 and new clause—”

“I rise simply to confirm that we will press new clause 104 to a vote.”