Growth and Infrastructure Bill

Page 2, leave out lines 10 and 11

Page 3, line 9, at end insert—

“( ) If a relevant application is made to the Secretary of State the provision made—

(a) for publicising the application under section 65 of the 1990 Act or under any other enactment, regulations or order, or in accordance with the policy of the designated authority;

(b) for consulting statutory bodies and other persons and bodies on the application under section 71 of the 1990 Act or under any other enactment, regulations or order, or in accordance with the policy of the designated authority; and

(c) for the period of time during which representations may be made and for the procedures for making those representations (whether in writing or in person),

shall not be less than the provision that would have been made if the application had been made to that authority.”

Page 3, line 9, at end insert—

“( ) If a relevant application is made to the Secretary of State the provision made for providing persons and bodies with the ability to inspect the documents provided in support of the application, consultation responses from statutory and other bodies, and comments by other persons shall not be less than the provision that would have been made if the application had been made to that authority; and in particular provision must be made for the documents, responses and comments to be available for inspection—

(a) at a convenient location or locations within the area of the designated authority; and

(b) on a website with free and open access.”

Page 3, line 9, at end insert—

“( ) Before designating an authority under this section, the Secretary of State must serve a notice of intention to designate (“the notice”).

( ) The notice must—

(a) specify the reasons for serving the notice, all of which must have regard to the criteria that the Secretary of State has published under section 62A(8)(a);

(b) specify those actions by the authority which the Secretary of State believes are necessary to satisfy the reasons for serving the notice; and

(c) give the authority a period of twelve months in which to take the specified actions.

( ) At the end of the twelve month period the Secretary of State must publish a report which sets out the extent to which the reasons for serving the notice still apply or no longer apply and—

(a) confirm the designation;

(b) withdraw the designation; or

(c) serve a further notice specifying a further period of not more than six months in which the authority may take further specified actions, at the end of which the provisions of this subsection will again apply.”

Insert the following new Clause—

“Indebtedness

(1) The Localism Act 2011 is amended as follows.

(2) Section 171 (Limits on indebtedness) is repealed.

(3) In Part 7 of the Localism Act 2011 insert—

“Definition of indebtedness

(1) A local authority shall determine and keep under review the amount of housing debt held by that authority.

(2) A determination under this section must have regard to the duty to determine an affordable borrowing limit under section 3 of the Local Government Act 2003 (duty to determine affordable borrowing limit).

(3) A determination under this section must have regard to any guidance issued or approved by the Secretary of State.

(4) A local housing authority may not hold debt in contravention of a determination under this section.

(5) In this section “housing debt”, in relation to a local housing authority, means debt—

(a) which is held by the authority in connection with the exercises of its functions relating to houses and other property within its housing revenue account, and

(b) interest and other charges in respect of which are required to be carried to the debit of that account.””