Member

As noble Lords know, we must build more homes in order to tackle the root causes of homelessness. The Bill underpins our commitment to deliver 1.5 million homes over this Parliament, and we have confirmed a new 10-year £39 billion social and affordable homes programme. The current planning framework already allows local planning authorities to do what this amendment seeks to achieve. Each planning application is judged on its own individual merit, and the weight given to competing material considerations is a matter for the local planning authority. For example, it could be that an authority considers the need for a particular type of housing tenure to outweigh local policy around space standards, when considering all relevant material considerations. We should leave that choice and decision in the hands of local authorities for the reason that the noble Baroness, Lady Scott, gave: it is important that we do not undermine the wider picture in relation to space standards.