Member

We also have the benefit of knowing the value that is attached to chief planners in Scotland and Wales, and I am very grateful to all those who have signed this amendment— my noble friend Lord Banner and the noble Lords, Lord Best and Lord Shipley. The noble Lord, Lord Best, may be able to tell us more about the experience of Scotland and Wales, so I will not dwell on that, but I know that it gives us confidence to feel that a statutory role of chief planner will be the best basis on which to enhance the planning profession and, frankly, to deliver on the planning reforms that the Government rightly say are so important. I beg to move.