Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill

I turn to Amendments 3, 4, 10, 11 and 16 to 54. As noble Lords will recall, this House was not content to accept government Amendments 247YY and 247YYA on Report, which related to nutrients. It is therefore necessary for the Government to reverse any amendments that were consequential on Amendments 247YY and 247YYA, and to fill legislative gaps that have arisen due to Amendments 247YY and 247YYA not being agreed to. This includes amendments which will provide a clear link between new Section 96G of the Water Industry Act, which enables water companies to take a catchment-permitting approach when upgrading waste- water treatment works, and new Regulations 85A, 85B and 110A in the habitats regulations, which direct local planning authorities to assume that the proposed upgrades are certain for the purpose of planning decisions.

The Government have also tabled minor and technical Amendments 10 and 11. Clause 256 of the Bill changes all references to “retained direct EU legislation” in this Bill to “assimilated direct legislation” in line with Section 5 of the retained EU law Act, as that Bill received Royal Assent during the passage of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill. One of these references was to the draft amendments concerning nutrient neutrality that were defeated by a vote in the House of Lords on 13 September. This amendment removes the reference.

Noble Lords will recall that we agreed amendments on Report in the name of my noble friend Lord Moylan, in relation to a road user charging scheme in London. The effect will be to enable London borough councils that are meeting their air quality standards and objectives under the Environment Act 1995, or have an approved plan to do so, to opt out of certain road user charging schemes proposed by Transport for London. This is a focused, sensible and proportionate rebalancing of mayoral powers with borough interests in the capital.

This group of government amendments is minor and technical in nature, but they are important none the less. The collective effect of Amendments 5, 7 and 8 is to clarify the eligibility of relevant London borough councils seeking to opt out of certain future road user charging schemes. They improve the drafting by ensuring that the provisions cover each case that could arise in relation to a London borough council. For example, where a council was eligible when it first gave notice but subsequently became ineligible on account of the introduction of an air quality management area, it will have the opportunity to submit an alternative plan during the opt-out period, thereby opening up the opportunity to become potentially eligible again. The collective effect of Amendments 13 and 14 is to correct the extent of Clause 253 so that it extends to England, Wales and Scotland, reflecting the extent of the Greater London Authority Act 1999, which it amends. The concept of application is distinct from that of extent—and these provisions will, of course, in practice apply only to London.

Lastly, Amendment 6 will ensure consistency in the language used and avoid any potential misunderstanding that opt-out notices can be given outside of the defined 10-week opt-out period. I beg to move.

There continues to be a weakness in legislation relating to national parks, in terms of their power of competence, which prevents national parks operating outside their borders. This matters, because national parks increasingly operate in partnerships across wider landscapes than their own borders. The current legislation prevents many of the opportunities that they would have to work in broader partnerships and to take up opportunities.

To take one example of that, in the South Downs we are leading on the development of the green finance initiative, but the legal limits on our scope and powers prevent us providing green finance support to our neighbouring areas of outstanding natural beauty. There is a problem with the terminology and phraseology of the current legislation. I do not suppose that the Minister will feel able to give any commitments on this now, but I hope that he will continue the dialogue to look at ways to address this. Everybody would accept that more—and broader—partnerships, particularly in terms of the local landscape review, would be really effective.

In the meantime, I very much welcome Amendment 9 and I am pleased to support it.