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authority and the developer, because the responsible developer will know the cost of their planning obligation—a cost that can be paid up front—and the local authority will know how much it will receive, will receive it and can then disburse it to the benefit of the community. That will have significant benefits, avoiding both the need to go through the convoluted procedures for enforcing a section 106 agreement and the possibility of applications being made to vary it, which can take a long time and be the subject of lengthy disputes—I am not entirely sure whether that occurred in this case, but it seems that it may have done.

The situation in my right hon. Friend’s constituency has to be dealt with under the law as it stands, so I regret that that legislation, which is currently before the House, may be of only limited comfort. However, I hope that it is of some comfort for the future that lessons can be drawn from how section 106 agreements work. I would not want anyone to think that section 106 agreements do not work properly in the majority of cases. However, we believe that a revised CIL will be a fairer and better means of dealing with the problem and will, I hope, give residents greater certainty that if they move into a development, the sort of developments for which they hope will, in fact, take place.

Finally, my right hon. Friend’s point about the views of the parish council and the neighbourhood is also important, and is a further part of the Government’s reforms—in the Localism Bill and our allied planning reforms—which will involve creating neighbourhood planning. Once those reforms are in place, parish councils in areas such as Flitch Green will be in a position to develop their own neighbourhood plans, which will be able to specify exactly those sorts of issues, such as where playing fields or community facilities might be. Subject to the support of the community in a referendum, that plan will be incorporated into the district council’s local development framework and its development plan. In the future, therefore, communities such as Flitch Green and Felsted will have the real and genuine ability to control where development goes.

I am afraid that that is a promise of better things for the future, rather than something through which I can offer immediate comfort to my right hon. Friend, but I know that he has done his constituents a great service by raising this issue in his trenchant and characteristically eloquent way. I hope that he will at least be able to say to them that the Government are taking steps for the future to make sure that planning obligations are delivered in an appropriate, effective and transparent way that is to the general benefit of communities. I am grateful to him for raising those issues with me, and I am sure that the House will appreciate it.

Question put and agreed to.

8.34 pm

House adjourned.