Having listened to the hon. Gentleman’s conclusion about Parliament and the Executive, I am tempted to say to him, “Steady on.” The word “over-egging” has also been mentioned. After all, what is the Committee about? We are considering a Bill that has come not from the Executive but from my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, North and Leith, who is trying to incorporate some sensible measures proposed by others. In other words, it comes by the private Member’s Bill route. Surely that is an example of Government listening to the House.

I have tried to be sensible when the hon. Gentleman has moved amendments to improve the Bill. Although the change in balance between the Executive and Parliament is always an interesting essay question, I do not think that the Bill is a very good case study to argue that the Executive are not listening to Parliament; probably the reverse is true.

The Government support the aims behind the new clause, but we believe that such matters should not be addressed through primary legislation. It would be difficult and inflexible to include in primary legislation details about the criteria for individual planning decisions. Issues such as renewable energy and the use of low-carbon energy can be best addressed by planning guidance and policies in development plans rather than in primary legislation.

I spoke at some length—I hope not at too much length—during the Committee’s previous sitting about what we call PPS22 and the support that it gives to positive planning for renewables. Planning guidance such as PPS22 can respond to changing circumstances, such as changing technologies or priorities, in a way that primary legislation cannot.

At a certain stage in his speech, the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle, who has been reasonableness itself for most of these proceedings, suddenly got very excited about a quote in a specialist magazine and built on this fragile or non-existent basis a huge diatribe against my close colleagues and indeed comrades in the ODPM. He was so excited that I thought he was going to turn into a microgenerator himself, generating much hot air to the amusement of the Committee.

But what are the facts? My hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning has already started the urgent—I repeat the word “urgent”—review of local plans that I promised the Committee during our last  sitting. That review, which I discussed with my hon. Friend only today, will identify whether appropriate policies are being included in plans to implement PPS22. She has repeated her promise to consider whatever action is necessary following that review, and hopes to be able to report on it at a later stage of the Bill’s consideration. No one was over-egging. I was simply stating the position of my hon. Friend the Minister: it is indeed an urgent review.