Member

I turn to the noble Baroness’s opening of the debate. I have already spoken about security in detail, and I promise not to do it again, but I remind the Committee, in support of the proposal from the noble Baroness, Lady Fookes, that in this country we are not in the habit of dealing with national security issues in planning applications. Nobody has ever considered dealing with national security, particularly of critical national infrastructure, in planning applications. We are not in the habit of asking an architect or surveyor, however skilled—they are often the chairs or inspectors of these planning appeals—to determine the security issues for a building if national security is involved. If a supermarket is being built, of course the planning inspector can determine the security issues that arise, as they can for any building to which the public have resort, but the planning inspector is not capable or qualified to assess a building that is being placed half way between Parliament and the headquarters of the Security Service.