Member

I turn now to amendments 18, 19, 20 and 22, also tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Coffey. Clause 3 empowers the Secretary of State to make provision by regulations about the time limit, including the extension of such a time limit, for determining requests for redirection. These amendments instead would set a fixed three-month time limit in primary legislation and would enable a further period of a month after the initial determination to consider further interventions before reaching a final decision. The Government want requests for redirection to be determined promptly. However, proportionality and flexibility are needed to ensure decisions can be made in a timely fashion and fairly. The most appropriate timeframe will depend on a number of factors, including the demand from applicants and the complexity of projects coming forward.