It is always a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Dr Murrison, and to sit next to my hon. Friend the Member for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner (David Simmonds). I also welcome the opportunity to sit opposite the Minister, and I appreciate the remarks he has made in this Committee. I welcome the opportunity to address this statutory instrument on behalf of His Majesty’s Opposition.
As the Minister has said, the UK is home to Europe’s largest data centre market, and the Opposition welcome the aims of the regulations in so far as they wish to enable the market to continue to grow—and to do so with greater ease. It is fair to say that the Government and the Opposition have not always seen eye to eye on aspects of the Government’s planning reforms. The Opposition would not being doing our jobs correctly if we did not draw attention to some of the brazen power grabs made by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government—and specifically by the Minister’s former boss—in the name of devolution, reorganisation and planning reform.
When it comes to data centres, however, we are clear that it is the right approach to work towards a less complex system to help see them built. That is not to say that the regulations are perfect. Having looked over the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee’s report, it is regrettable to note that the Government have brought the regulations without the accompanying draft national policy statement, which, in the Government’s own words,
“will set out the framework for decision making in relation to data centres.”
As the Committee pointed out, it makes it much more difficult for this House to consider and fully understand how the applications will be assessed without having seen that first.
Secondly, as the Committee noted, the Government are removing the current statutory consultation requirements at the pre-application stage of the nationally significant infrastructure policy process and substituting them for non-statutory pre-application engagement with local communities. As we have seen throughout the debates regarding the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, it is not just the Opposition that are concerned about proper consultation with local communities. As the Committee suggested, it would be prudent to seek further assurance from the Minister that meaningful opportunities will still exist for local communities to make representations on proposed developments. I seek that assurance from the Minister today.