House of Lords
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Peers are continuing to discuss the Housing and Planning Bill at committee stage, but we’re going to leave our live coverage for tonight. 

You can continue to watch the House of Lords on by clicking on the tab above, where coverage continues. You’ll also be able to catch up with coverage of the House of Lords on the BBC Parliament iPlayer, and you can follow on Parliament’s own online service, external

Thanks for reading – and please join us for more from the Commons and Lords tomorrow.

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Local Government Minister Baroness Williams says she "supports the key principle" in the amendment, namely that local authorities should be able to tailor the system in their areas.

She says that the amendment as written contains some problems, such as not containing a right to appeal.

She says the government will consider how best to take the principle of the amendment forward.

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Liberal Democrat Lord Taylor is moving an amendment which would allow a local planning authority to approach the Secretary of State and request to alter the planning system in their area.

The Secretary of State could only grant twelve such requests, and they would not be able to last more than ten years.

He argues that the amendment would allow experimentation in the system to help "evolve policy".

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Minister Baroness Williams says the seven year time limit might be "unrealistic" and could put off developers.

She adds that she agrees that land-banking is a problem but this amendment is not the best way to deal with it.

The amendment is withdrawn.

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Liberal Democrat Lord Palmer of Childs Hill moves an amendment which puts a time limit of the amount of time between planning permission being granted and building being completed. He says this should be seven years.

The amendment is designed to prevent developers from 'land-banking', the practice of hoarding land in the hope that it goes up in value.

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Parliament

Local Government Minister Baroness Williams says local authorities will have the freedom to take account of noise when granting planning permission.

She adds that she will meet with peers before the report stage to see if more can be done to ensure that the bill does not unintentionally cause the closure of more live music venues.

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Liberal Democrat Lord Clement-Jones moves an amendment which would require developments to take account of the use of neighbouring buildings, for example by putting soundproofing into developments near live music venues.

He tells peers that live music venues are under threat because neighbouring residents complain about the noise and have the local authority place licensing restrictions on them.

These restrictions are often too expensive to implement and the venue ends up closing down.

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Parliament

Baroness Evans says the government is "fully committed" to building houses on brownfield land.

She tells the House that if a site was not viable for development it would not go on the brownfield register.

She asks that the amendment is withdrawn, and Lord Greaves agrees.

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Parliament

Lord Greaves is moving an amendment concerned with brownfield sites which are not viable for development because it would cost so much to develop them that it would be unprofitable to do so.

If passed the amendment would require the government to provide funding to make the site viable.

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Minister Baroness Evans says brownfield land "has an important role to play" in delivering new homes.

She tells the House the proposed brownfield register is a key part of developing these sites.

She says that putting a site on a brownfield register does not automatically mean it will get planning permission, and the local authority will still have a say in this.

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Peers move on to debate the part of the bill concerned with the brownfield register.

The bill contains a new duty to keep a register of brownfield land within a local authority’s area. This will tie in with a new system of allowing the Secretary of State to grant planning permission in principle for housing on sites identified in these registers.

Lord Greaves asks for a definition of what brownfield land actually means in relation to the bill.

He says that it is "clearly" land which has already been developed but wonders if it has reverted to the appearance of greenfield land it would still be considered brownfield. 

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Baroness Williams says the amendments are not needed.

She argues that the bill would allow the Secretary of State to exclude sites like aerodromes from areas granted permission in principle.

She goes on to say that permission in principle will set out "expectations" of good design, but that the details would be worked out at the later technical consent stage.

For an explanation of this process, see earlier post at 20:22.

The amendments are withdrawn.

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Crossbench peer the Duke of Somerset tells the House it is important that new developments are well designed.

He adds that this would be good for residents, both for their well-being and for the future value of the properties they buy.

He calls for permission in principle to take account of good design.

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At committee stage peers go through a bill line by line. Any member of the Lords can take part.

During committee stage every clause of the bill has to be agreed to and votes on any amendments can take place. All suggested amendments have to be considered, if a member wishes, and members can discuss an issue for as long as they want. 

The government cannot restrict the subjects under discussion or impose a time limit.  

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Conservative Lord Rotherwick introduces a group of amendments which would protect land needed for infrastructure from being granted permission in principle.

He tells the House that he is a keen amateur pilot and fears that if aerodromes lose land to permission in principle "they are doomed".

House of Commons
Parliament

And with that business in the House of Commons is brought to a close.

MPs will be back again at 11.30am tomorrow when the day's main legislating is on the HS2 Bill - aka the High Speed Rail (London - West Midlands) Bill. 

This is the report stage, after a gruelling two-year committee stage, in which people affected by the controversial mega-project have petitioned MPs for more compensation, changes to the route and environmental protections. Plenty of difficult amendments from angry MPs are expected.

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Parliament

Home Office Minister Karen Bradley thanks Jake Berry for bringing the debate forward. 

"This is not women issue. This is violence against women and girls and we need men to speak out and be clear that these practices are not acceptable".

She says there can be "no political or cultural sensitivities than can be used as an excuse not to tackle it".

Breast ironing is against the law today, she says. "Although there are no specific offences a range of offences are available to police to deal with incidents they encounter."

But she admits "there is always more we can do" and agrees to meet Jake Berry. She adds the government will be consulting on "all forms of child abuse" which will cover breast ironing and she encourages anyone listening to "get involved".

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Minister Baroness Evans says local authorities can refuse permission to develop on sites of high environmental in their local plans.

She says the amendment is "not desirable or necessary".

Baroness Parminter withdraws it, but says she will return to the issue at report stage.

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Image source, PA

Liberal Democrat Baroness Parminter is moving an amendment which prevents permission in principle could not be granted to sites with high environmental value.

A site gaining permission in principal would be half way to getting planning permission if the bill is passed.

Permission in principle would be granted by the Secretary of State to brownfield sites identified by local authorities and to areas those authorities set aside for development in their local plans. It must be for housing developments.

For small developments, a developer can apply for permission in principle from the Secretary of State, who can the process that local authorities must follow in handling an application.

Once a site has permission in principle, developers must get 'technical details consent', which would set out specifics such as the design of the development.

Once both 'permission in principle' and 'technical details consent' have been granted, building can begin.

House of Commons
Parliament

Jake Berry tells MPs that breast ironing is thought to have originated in Cameroon but has been found in "Nigeria, Benin, Birmingham and London".

But it is "hard to prove the prevalence or extent of breast ironing" because like FGM "the practice is hidden as it is most often carried out by a family member". In known cases 58% of perpetrators were "the girls own mothers".

Local authorities and police "admit they need further training in dealing with this practice" he says.

He calls for a "stand alone crime of breast ironing in the UK"  he says and for the protections of the FGM Act 2015 to be extended to those in danger of breast ironing.

"If we fail to let [police] have the tools they need to identify and help victims of this crime it they will never be able to tackle it".