Member

There is a power in the Bill to set a timetable and to require timetables to be set, so I will not dwell on that. I hope that, in a later group, we will return to the fact that there is not yet—there should be—a power in this Bill to require the co-operation of neighbouring authorities and other public bodies in the process of making a strategic development strategy, as in Section 100 of the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act. I hope that, although that section has not yet been brought into force, Ministers will create a like provision in this Bill in order to ensure cross-border co-operation, as well as co-operation with utilities and other public bodies, so that transport planning, utility planning and local planning across borders and on a larger scale can be achieved through strategic planning. I am very much in favour of strategic planning, as the Minister knows. In the then levelling-up Bill, I and my noble friend Lord Young of Cookham were in favour of national targets and strategic planning; I hope that we can successfully deliver both.