“The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill” is making its way through the legislative process and is now in the House of Lords. As one would hope from one’s government, there is a lot of good stuff in there.

There is, however, hidden in its bowels, something akin to a small nuclear device that should instil fear into every professional membership organization in the land. Clause 213 of the Bill relates specifically to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and seeks explicit powers for the Secretary of State to investigate the work and performance of RICS. The powers that be – maybe Gove himself or another minister – are presumably not at all amused with RICS, and hence the draconian proposal.

I am not connected enough to know whether this is, as is alleged, a proportionate response to the alleged poor performance of RICS on matters of cladding, or governance or something else, but to an outsider looking in, this is an abuse of government power. Those less prone to catastrophise might argue that the likelihood of the clause being used is very low, but its existence should send a shudder down the spine of democracy. At a local level it happens to be deeply unhelpful timing for RICS who are currently hoping to appoint senior people to lift the organisation after at least two – some might say three – challenging independent reviews. Conspiracy or coincidence? Make your own judgement.