Member

To come back to the amendments in this group, I have talked about the issues relating to difficulties with geography. Previous debates have told us that it is important that we do not undermine the capacity and resourcing of local planning authorities to deliver local plans. That, I think, is the burden of the point that my noble friend was quite rightly making. I do not think the solution is to take district councils out of the process of being involved in this issue, but we need some assurances from Ministers. There is a commitment of the order of £46 million overall to the delivery of the planning reforms, but I do not think we yet know how much of that money is available to strategic authorities for the purpose of strategic development strategies. That commitment to resourcing the strategic development strategies is important.