Speeches by Pennycook.

“No, I do not have any particular worries about the way the presumption is operating. It is operating in the way that we intend it to operate. As I say, we are encouraging local authorities to get local development plans in place to give themselves a measure of protection against speculative development of that kind. I …”

“I can happily read you the quote, Ms Chowns: “even after the material amendments the Government proposes, the Bill would, in some respects, lower environmental protection on the face of the law. In the round, however, the additional safeguards proposed today make Government’s intended ‘win-win’ for nature and the econo…”

“Again, I would not necessarily agree with your characterisation of what I said.”

“The requirement is that Natural England brings forward environmental delivery plans that will meet the overall improvement test. My assertion is that they would not put that in front of the Secretary of State if they were not confident that it would do so.”

“Just so that I am clear, you are assuming that Natural England will undertake no such surveys.”

“I disagree with your characterisation of the approach. We are moving very deliberately away from the status quo, which, as I have said, is not only stifling housing development but not delivering for nature in the way that we think it could.”

“We are very clearly moving away from a site-by-site approach to a strategic approach.”

“Do you think Natural England would not undertake that type of analysis in bringing forward EDPs? I find the lack of faith in Natural England generally in this process quite startling.”

“I struggle with your assertion that Natural England would make that judgment without availing themselves of and finding out, on the basis of scientific evidence, as we have clarified through one of our amendments—”

“No, we are moving away. In some ways, I struggle to see how people fail to grasp this. What we are doing here is to move away, very deliberately, from an approach that is based on site-by-site assessment and obligations, to a more strategic approach. It is Natural England’s job to put that plan forward and the Secretar…”

“As I said—to re-emphasise my previous point—it is for Natural England to make a judgment, across the EDP area, on the basis of scientific evidence. I refer to some of the amendments that I have already spoken about.”

“The negative effect in what respect?”

“I am more than happy to. There is the £14 million it has been allocated to start things up and the fact that the scheme runs on a cost recovery basis as it begins to get up and running. We can go into all of the resourcing questions, but at the heart of who we are asking to make these judgments about what the appropria…”

“I am Matthew Pennycook, the Minister for Housing and Planning.”

“In very general terms, a series of factors are constraining house building across the country. We inherited a planning system that was faltering on all fronts. It was failing to deliver the outcomes that many communities want to see in terms of infrastructure that is of quality, good design and sustainable, and the inf…”

“I cannot comment on advice that I have not seen.”

“We have always been clear, and I have made this argument throughout all the stages of the Bill, that we should not see nature as a blocker to development—although it is a barrier; let me touch on that in one second—and that we can achieve a win-win for both development and the environment if we approach things in a dif…”

“They are set out clearly in the Bill. You will have noted the very specific amendment on the overall improvement test that we made in the package released last week to insert the word “materially”, so the conservation measures must be materially significant. The overall improvement test is a test that the Secretary of …”

“It is for the Government to make the statement that they feel it is compliant.”

“I would only emphasise what I have already said. The section 19 declaration is there on the front of the Bill. It is not routine for the Government to publish EPPSs. I had this in my own Select Committee the other day. I am always asked to be far more transparent than every previous Government, and just publish all our…”