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MPs dismiss climate duty

Planning, 6 June 2008

Climate change campaigners were dealt a huge blow this week when calls for a duty to take the issue into account in the Planning Bill, now before parliament, were rejected.

A proposed amendment, voted on as the bill reached its report stage, called for the duty to apply to the infrastructure planning commission and secretary of state.

The motion was narrowly defeated with 241 MPs voting for and 256 against. The bill will now contain no legal duty on climate change.

The government maintained that the Climate Change Bill covers the relevant concerns. However, 24 rebel Labour MPs voted for the amendment.

Friends of the Earth planning campaigner Hugh Ellis said: "Opposing an uncontroversial move that simply asks for climate change to be considered is the most extraordinary thing I have seen in my time in planning."

The vote represents the second rebellion by Labour MPs on climate change in the last few weeks, after 33 of them backed an amendment to the Energy Bill to boost renewable energy (Planning, 9 May, p5).

The Planning Bill will go before the House of Lords later this month. Some peers recently indicated that they will push for the climate change amendments (Planning, 23 May, p5).