Housing and Planning Bill — House of Lords, 2016-04-20
Topic: Housing
Elizabeth Andrews (Labour, Centre-left): My Lords, we are a dwindling band but the issues are no less important. This amendment repeats the amendment which I laid as Amendment 98 in Committee to stress the need for brownfield sites to achieve both sustainable development and good design We brought the amendment back not only because we continued to see the need to reinforce and make clear on the record that the NPPF applies to brownfield sites on the register and that any developing local authority must therefore ensure that those sites exemplify all the positive and best aspects of place-making. We also brought it back to reiterate common concerns, inside and outside this House, that these new developments may fall prey to being a short cut to throwing up the sorts of housing estates that we hoped we had seen the last of that are identikit and, frankly, alienating. We want to ensure that developers who are under the cosh get the clear message that it is possible to build quickly but beautifully. There is nothing utopian about that—it can be done Sustainability means, of course, to build to sustainable environmental, social and economic conditions, and with regard to social sustainability it also means building in that which reflects, incorporates and makes a working feature of the heritage of the site, to give new inhabitants of an old and much-worked site a sense that they too belong there in a new age. We often underestimate the importance of reflecting that sense of identity and belonging, yet it makes an enormous difference to how people feel about where they live That means that the second reason I have for bringing back the amendment is even more important. When we discussed it in Committee we had some exchanges about new town development corporations which led me to reflect that the NPPF might not apply to these new planning authorities and that, if they were to develop to their very best—in terms of the rare opportunity these developments offer to master plan to the highest standards—they most certainly should be under the same planning law. I am very grateful for the help of the TCPA in establishing this point. Again, I thank the Minister for the help she has given and thank her very helpful officials in this respect. They have confirmed that I was right to raise this as an issue. The duty to work towards sustainable development as set out in Section 39 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 does not apply to new town development corporations. However, I am assured that in practice, as the Minister said in a letter to me, "the Government does have the means to ensure that they have regard to the NPPF in drawing up its plan for a new settlement" She has suggested that this could be done, for example, through provisions set out in Section 7 of the New Towns Act 1981 I will quote the rest of the Minister’s letter, because it is very important for the record. She says that she is, "aware that there is a strong case to ensure that there are explicit statutory obligations on", new town development corporations, "to work towards achieving sustainable development, in the same way as they are currently on a local planning authority. I am pleased to say that we will be bringing forward such proposals shortly" There will be amendments later on, possibly on Monday, on the same point, but it is apposite now to raise this issue on the amendment and to say again that I would be very grateful if the Government were able to say a little more about how this other loophole in the law might also be closed. I beg to move.