Speeches by Holmes.

“Q Thank you; that is illuminating and we will take it forward in Committee. Mr Miner, could you elaborate on my question about the NRF element of the legislation? Paul Miner: We had concerns about biodiversity net gain when it was introduced because we felt that it would not lever in as many resources for nature conser…”

“Q I welcome Rachel and Paul to the Committee. We look forward to questioning you and we thank you for the work that you do. I thank you, Rachel, for the work of the NFU in the longer term, but particularly over the past few months with some of the challenges that farmers across the country are facing because of the Gov…”

“Q May I suggest that you are a very brave man to talk about the democratic eligibility of councillors when sitting before a Committee full of former councillors? But there we go—that is your rodeo. I have a further question about the role of planning committees. What do you think of the proposal by the Royal Town Plann…”

“Q Welcome to the Committee, Mr Airey and Mr Richards. Thank you for your time and sorry to keep you waiting; I hope the questions are worth it. As you know, the Opposition were consistently concerned throughout the Second Reading debate—we asked previous witnesses questions on this—about the perceived democratic defici…”

“Quite right! Faraz Baber: If I may respond on that, there is real merit in the delegation scheme being proposed, within the confines of ensuring that the plan-making process is robust, and that there is engagement by community representatives through the EIP process, as well as other avenues that can help the plan-maki…”

“Q I have one very brief question, to change tack slightly, and I would appreciate it if each witness could give a short answer, because I know other colleagues want to come in. The last witness that we heard from was the chief executive of Natural England. As you will know, one of the most controversial parts of the le…”

“Q We were just in the middle of a response from you, Victoria, on your proposal to bring in a chief planning officer. Because we were voting, would you like to finish the point that you were making, or are you content with what you said before we went? Victoria Hills: Thank you very much. I was making the point that, i…”

“Q The Opposition absolutely agree with you on that, and we appreciate your frankness in your written representations to this Committee. Continuing with this line of questioning on local planning authorities and their powers with democratic oversight, one of your interesting proposals, Victoria, is an amendment that wou…”

“Q40 Thank you for coming this afternoon. I am going to speak slightly more slowly than usual, just to try to drag this out, so that we can go and vote, and the Committee can give you the scrutiny and respect that you deserve. I want to ask a question of the Town and Country Planning Association about the level of publi…”

“Q Preparatory work on EDPs. Where are you on that? Marian Spain: Work is under way now. As I mentioned earlier, we are doing two main things. We are thinking about the first two environmental delivery plans. This is an opportunity to mention that they are almost certain to be improving the existing nutrient mitigation …”

“Can I come back on that, briefly?”

“The Secretary of State is right to outline the legislation he is bringing forward, but on the ground there is still frustration about pollution in rivers, such as in Botley in my constituency. We are still seeing overflows—not from sewage but from development pollutants going into the river—and parish councils are iden…”

“On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I want to correct the record. When I asked my question, I did not refer the House to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, which indicates that I am a trustee of the armed forces parliamentary scheme. I apologise for not doing so.”

“The Chancellor is right to focus on increasing economic growth, so will she please explain why my office is still waiting for a response on behalf of a small business to a letter that I sent on 12 December, asking her to look into the impacts of her national insurance rise on small businesses? We asked for an update on…”

“I welcome the report and congratulate all members of the Committee and the witnesses who played their part in the inquiry. Overall, may I extend the Opposition’s best wishes to our veterans, to our armed services, and to our serving men and women, who deserve our respect and utmost gratitude every day? I thank the hon.…”

“Quite rightly, the Government said in their manifesto that they wanted to reduce homelessness and rough sleeping, but instead there has been a 20% increase in rough sleeping—at its highest in London but rapidly climbing in other parts of England, such as by 67% in Derbyshire. Homeless Link states that the Budget remove…”

“The Government’s much-lauded policy of building 1.5 million new sustainable homes has been doomed from the start of this Parliament, and we now have that confirmed, with the Chancellor saying last week that only 1.3 million homes will be delivered by the end of this Parliament. But it is worse than that. Office for Bud…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Lewell. I am delighted to see the Minister in front of me once again. We had a very late night last night, although it was not as exciting as it sounds: we were debating the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. I look forward to serving on the Bill Committee with him o…”

“On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I appreciate being able to make this point of order. I would like to seek your guidance on the speech from the hon. Member for North Warwickshire and Bedworth (Rachel Taylor), in which she defended developers and also solicitors. Did she have to declare her interest as a pract…”

“Labour Members shout from a sedentary position to ask why we never did it. This is one of the largest planning Bills to come before the House in a number of years, and nowhere have the Government mentioned that they would force developers to build houses that have already been given planning permission. We have a Gover…”