Lorely Listens

Written by Lorely Burt MP and published in Solihull Times on Wed 25th Oct 2006

Lorely's Law finally had its second reading in Parliament last Friday. In an intense debate lasting three and a half hours MPs from all sides of the house discussed the Bill and the problems which had moved me to bring it forward after only a few weeks of being an MP.

The Local Government and Planning (Parkland and Windfall Development) Bill - to give it its full title - seeks to prevent Local Authorities from selling off parkland without a local referendum, strengthens the hand of local people in creating parkland associations to care for parks and gives the Secretary of State the power to protect trees.

On windfall developments the Bill re-designates back gardens as brownfield instead of greenfield sites. Builders should then be required to develop true brownfield sites before building on back gardens.

Developers who blight the lives of communities by repeatedly re-submitting similar application would be further deterred by strengthening the ability of local authorities to 'decline to determine' their planning applications for three years.

I was delighted to hear the Minister Phil Woolas say that the Bill had already contributed to government policy regarding parkland associations and speak very supportively of the need for the government to address the problems of windfall development, tree protection and strengthened local democracy.

So will Lorely's Law become law? In time-honoured tradition of bills brought by private members it was voted down by the government. However, it has certainly given the government food for thought, and I am very hopeful that more aspects of Lorely's Law will find themselves incorporated into government's own legislation proposals in the Queen's Speech in a few weeks.

You can be sure that I will continue to use my position as an MP to persuade the Government to alter legislation to give local people more of a say in the planning decisions which affect their lives.

You can find the text of my speech and the full Hansard account of the debate on my website www.lorelyburt.org.uk

Lorely Burt MP