HC Deb 02 July 1935 vol 303 cc1803-4

8.59 p.m.

The LORD ADVOCATE

I beg to move, in page 40, line 11, to leave out "twenty-one days," and to insert "one month."

This Amendment and the following Amendments on the Paper to Clause 53 down to and including a new Sub-section (5) are put down to implement a promise which was given in Committee that where there is a proposal to remove an obstructive building, a similar notice as that which is served on the owner should be served on the superior and on any heritable creditor. The Amendments are merely machinery in line with the machinery for giving notice in other parts of the Bill to give effect to that promise. If I am in order, I should also like to mention an Amendment to provide a new Sub-section (6): This section shall not apply to a building which is the property of public undertakers, unless it is used for the purposes of a dwelling-house, show room, or office. etc. That is to say, it is not to apply to buildings which are used for containing apparatus for the purpose of providing gas, electricity or other essential matters for the community.

Amendment agreed to.

Further Amendments made: In page 40, line 14, leave out from "authority," to the end of the Sub-section, and insert: (2) Where the local authority serve a notice under the foregoing sub-section on an owner of a building, they shall at the same time require him to furnish within two weeks thereafter a written statement specifying the name and address of the superior under whom such owner holds, and of the holder of any heritable security over the owner's interest in the building, and the local authority shall as soon as may be after receipt of such statement serve on any person whose name is included therein notice of the time and place at which the question of demolishing the building will be considered. (3) Any person on whom a notice is served in pursuance of the foregoing provisions of this section shall be entitled to be heard when the question of demolishing the building to which the notice relates is taken into consideration.

In line 26, at the end, insert: (5) If any person fails to give the local authority any information required by them under sub-section (2) of this section or knowingly makes any misstatement with reference thereto he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding five pounds. (6) This section shall not apply to a building which is the property of public undertakers, unless it is used for the purposes of a dwelling-house, showroom, or office, or which is the property of a local authority."—[The Lord Advocate.]