Lords
Debate
13 April 2026
2 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, Amendment 248 is in my name and in the names of the noble Lords, Lord Grabiner and Lord Pannick. Veterans of the early debates on this Bill and on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill last year will be more than familiar with the problem that this amendment seeks to address, but given the …
My Lords, I agree with and endorse the comments of the noble Lords, Lord Grabiner, Lord Pannick and Lord O’Donnell, my noble friend Lord Fuller and the Minister in their responses to the various speeches opposing Amendment 248 or advancing amendments to it. I am very conscious of the hour but I have…
Lords
Committee Stage
5 March 2026
3 contributions
English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
My Lords, Amendment 222C is in my name and those of the noble Lords, Lord Grabiner and Lord Pannick. Noble Lords who participated in the House’s recent consideration of what was then the Planning and Infrastructure Bill will recall that we proposed an amendment to that Bill with a view to addressing…
My Lords, I am thankful for the comments and to all the contributors to this debate. I emphatically endorse the comments of the noble Lord, Lord Grabiner, that the issue this amendment presents is separate to the wider protections of parks and open spaces that are to be the subject of the review men…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
20 January 2026
2 contributions
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, in moving Amendment 417 I will speak to the associated Amendment 419, both in my name and with named support across the Committee. The purpose of these amendments is to provide a clear and easy-to-use legal basis for those found guilty of sanctions breaches and other similar offences to pa…
I thank the Minister for his comments, and indeed all speakers. The force of the unanimity on this issue across the Committee is telling. I hope it is the beginning of the momentum that my noble and learned friend Lord Garnier called for.
With respect to a couple of points the Minister mentioned, t…
Lords
Debate
9 December 2025
Crime and Policing Bill
My Lords, I too support these amendments. I declare an interest of sorts in that I have a young daughter who is fast approaching her teenage years. The idea that she might one day be the subject of the kind of despicable abuse that my noble friend Lady Owen and others have outlined is utterly terrif…
Lords
Proceedings
25 November 2025
Russian Ship “Yantar”
My Lords, do the Government consider that these acts of aggression and subversion will come to an end if a deal is reached in relation to Ukraine?
Lords
Debate
24 November 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
I want to speak briefly to Motion K1. I too will not be giving the speech that I prepared, in the light of the assurances from the Minister, for which I am very grateful as this is a very important area. However, I hope that she can give a couple of clarifications.
First, the Minister mentioned pub…
Lords
Proceedings
24 November 2025
Ukraine: Forcible Removal of Children
My Lords, what is the Government’s strategy if it becomes apparent that the only deal the United States of America will back is one that legitimises the theft of children and land?
Lords
Oral Questions
19 November 2025
Ukraine: UK-USA Discussions
That is absolutely right. Russia must not be rewarded for its actions here. That would send a bad signal to others around the world and would leave other states in the region incredibly vulnerable.
Lords
Debate
3 November 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, Amendment 250 is in my name and those of the noble Lords, Lord Pannick and Lord Grabiner, who are unable to be here this evening but who continue to support it, and the noble Lord, Lord O’Donnell. This amendment would address the wide-reaching consequences for persons who acquire former op…
Lords
Debate
27 October 2025
3 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, Amendment 103 concerns the principle of proportionality in planning. It was debated last week, and I have considered carefully the Minister’s comments. Notwithstanding those, I wish to test the opinion of the House.
My Lords, as I said in Committee, there is a compelling and universally acknowledged need for a legislative solution to address the difficulties that large, multi-phase development projects face in the light of the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Hillside Parks case. This is a technical issue of suc…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
27 October 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
I shall speak to Amendments 163A and 163B, tabled in my name. These seek to ensure that the nature restoration fund is properly aligned with the planning process and, in particular, that it is capable of supporting the larger and more complex developments. It is my view that the current drafting of …
Lords
Debate
22 October 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, there is a danger that this subject tends to generate more heat than light, as I think we have heard just now, so I thought I would—from the perspective of a planning silk—explain what these amendments would and would not do, so that we are all clear about that.
These amendments are not a…
Lords
Debate
22 October 2025
3 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, Amendment 64 has been packaged in the media, and even in the Marshalled List, as augmenting the Secretary of State’s power to call in an application, but, as the Minister made clear in opening, in fact it does not do that. It leaves Section 77 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, whi…
I appreciate that this amendment would not change the procedures, but the question I was seeking the Government’s clarification on is: will the Government commit to not diluting the policy commitment that the right to be heard in a call-in process is exercised through the rigorous public inquiry pro…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
19 September 2025
Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill
My Lords, like many in this House, I have always opposed a change in the law to allow for assisted dying. I understand the sincere motivations of those who desire to change the law, and I have listened to the many eloquent speeches given by Peers across the House in favour of the change.
However, I…
Lords
Debate
18 September 2025
2 contributions
Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
My Lords, I shall speak to Amendment 502F in my name. I thank the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Hale of Richmond, who is unable to be here today, for lending her name to it, and Mr James Maurici KC for assisting us with its drafting.
The amendment is like Amendment 470, albeit differently worded…
My Lords, I want to come back on two points. First, I suggest that the analogy with the ECHR and the Human Rights Act is not a good one, because the Human Rights Act imposes duties of outcome. It requires adherence to the convention. The amendments before the Committee require “regard to”, which is …
Lords
Debate
15 September 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, Amendment 227E, tabled in my name, among others, would address the wide-reaching consequences of a recent Supreme Court decision in a case called Day for persons who acquire former open-space land from local authorities. The context for this is that open spaces held by a local authority un…
Lords
Debate
11 September 2025
9 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I will speak on Amendment 167, which stands in my name. It would require future neighbourhood plans to be consistent with national planning policy, in particular the National Planning Policy Framework. Neighbourhood plans, once made, form part of the statutory development plan in accordanc…
I invite the Minister and her government colleagues to consider, if in my Amendment 167 a requirement for consistency with the NPPF is considered to be too onerous in relation to neighbourhood plans, a middle ground of general conformity. That language was used back in the days of regional spatial s…
+7 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
9 September 2025
3 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I start by speaking in support of Amendments 129 and 130 from the noble Lord, Lord Hunt—and, indeed, of his Amendment 135D, which would extrapolate those amendments to the hazardous substances Act.
The background, in brief, is that Clause 12 of the Bill, following the recommendations of m…
I thank the Minister for those comments. Does he accept that if it is only one year to cover the typical period of High Court proceedings, that gives unsuccessful claimants in the High Court an incentive to perpetuate the proceedings by taking it to the Court of Appeal and potentially thereafter to …
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
9 September 2025
2 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I will say a few words in support of Amendment 132 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, concerning the purpose of planning. To my mind, there would be some advantage in following the precedent in Scotland, where a similar purpose clause exists in its planning le…
It appeared from what the Minister said that a key factor weighing in the Government’s mind against the purpose of planning is the risk of legal challenges. For my part, I think that that fear is probably overblown. The purpose would only be something that would have to be taken into account. Once i…
Lords
Debate
4 September 2025
5 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I will speak to Amendments 98 and 99, tabled in my name, which would enhance the existing statutory power under Section 303ZA of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 to charge fees for planning appeals to the Planning Inspectorate. That existing statutory power has never been used. There…
My Lords, I add my support to Amendment 162, which would put chief planning officers on a statutory basis. I agree with the case made for it by my noble friend Lord Lansley and the noble Lords, Lord Shipley and Lord Best. I can add little to what they said, but I want to emphasise one point in parti…
+3 more contributions in this session
Lords
Debate
24 July 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
I endorse the comments of my noble friend Lord Moylan. I have two questions and observations. First, “temporary” can mean different things to different people. For example, in the context of onshore wind, temporary permission tends to be granted for 25 years, whereas if one is talking about occupati…
Lords
Debate
17 July 2025
3 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
I want to say something about what the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, said about the default risk aversion, and how there is a significant risk of that with regulators. There is a lot of merit in those comments. Largely, that stems from the application of the precautionary principle in much of the field of …
My Lords, I shall say a few words in support of this amendment. I can see it reducing the risk of judicial review. Quite often, not just in the planning context but in other contexts, where there is no duty to give reasons for a decision that is judicially reviewable, judicial review is the only way…
+1 more contribution in this session
Lords
Debate
17 July 2025
2 contributions
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, I declare my interest as a practising Silk in planning and environmental law, with a range of clients affected by planning regulation in various ways. I am a non-executive director of SAV Group, a property developer, and of Crossman Special Projects, a land promoter. I am the author of the…
I tried with my proportionality clause, which we will come to later in the proceedings. That is the best I can do so far; I am toying with tweaking it so that if it were to find its way on to the statute book, the Secretary of State would have the ability to publish statutory guidance on how to give…
Lords
Debate
25 June 2025
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
My Lords, it is very interesting to follow the noble Lord, Lord Banner, but I shall take a different perspective.
The Bill’s commitment to practical measures, to get the houses we need built and long-neglected infrastructure developed, is going to change millions of lives for the better. I am also …