Member

I hope that the Minister and the Committee find Amendments 141 and 146 self-explanatory. They were also raised in passing in the other place but are very much the preserve of the Music Venue Trust, to which I am very grateful for its help in drafting them. Basically, they seek to ensure that existing cultural, creative and community infrastructure, such as grass-roots music venues, are safeguarded, and to enhance the existing guidance on the agent of change principle, which I will come to in a moment. Really, this would encourage planning authorities to look at badly considered applications more carefully when a decision is taken. Under these amendments, when the guidance in the agent of change principle is not followed and poorly soundproofed residential developments are built in close proximity to grass-roots music venues—many of which have been carrying out their activities for years—mitigation will be at the cost of the developers of those residential flats or properties that have been built after the agent of change.