Government wins planning vote
The government has won the planning bill vote with 280 votes for to 198 against.
The ease of the vote reflects a series of highly effective concessions made to placate Labour rebels.
One potential rebel, Clive Betts, who had tabled an amendment to the bill, withdrew it and said he will vote yes.
Mr Betts was satisfied with the concessions offered, including a two year review of the proposals, government pre-approval of nuclear power station and airport sites before a Commission decision and new rights for those issued compulsory purchase orders.
But some Labour MPs stood firm. John Crogan said the concessions were insufficient and put down his own amendment giving minister a final decision within six months of Commission approval. That was easily defeated.
Campaign groups remained similarly unconvinced.
“The current proposals mean undermining democracy in favour of an increasingly centralised and authoritarian government,” the Green party’s principle speaker Caroline Lucas told politics.co.uk.
“Consulting with local people on disruptive, polluting projects like airports or power stations is essential, and any attempt to ‘streamline’ these processes to save money, or to hand them over to appointed yes-men, is a scandalous affront to the rights of ordinary people in the UK,” she continued.
The Countryside Alliance agreed with her, with the group seizing on the role of the newly created quango – the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC).
“The bill in its current form fails in three key areas,” a spokesman told politics.co.uk.
“We believe that the proposed Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) lacks the necessary democratic accountability.
“In addition the removal of the existing rights of representation and appeal threaten to undermine confidence in the IPC and is an unjustified removal of existing rights,” he continued.
“Finally the absence of an obligation for the IPC to take account of the principle of sustainable development is inconsistent with overall government policy.”
Paul Miner, Campaign for Rural England’s senior planning campaigner, said: “This is crunch time for planning in this country. Airport expansion and new power stations are huge matters of public concern. If Ministers are serious about moving towards a greener future and more prudent use of resources, they should take the hard decisions that this involves.”
In an article for politics.co.uk Hugh Ellis, Friends of the Earth’s planning campaigner, voices similar concerns.
“The planning bill has reached a critical stage in its progress into law and so far the government has not been willing to compromise on its contents,” he writes.
“But in trying to speed up our creaking planning system, the government appears to have thrown out the baby with the bathwater.
“The planning bill is undemocratic, marginalises community voices and does nothing to tackle climate change.”
There are groups, especially those who take a day-to-day interest in small-scale planning, who support the proposals.
Gillian Charlesworth, director of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)said: “There is a clear need to improve and speed up decision making in major infrastructure projects in the UK. If the UK Government fails to improve the planning of infrastructure there will be major risks to much needed investment.”
The Tories and Lib Dems opposed the bill.
A defeat would have been treated as a further erosion of Gordon Brown’s authority and a disastrous chapter in his already problematic administration.
