CLAUSE 61.—(Restriction of use of land after clearance order becomes operative.) (Hansard, 2 July 1935)

§ The LORD ADVOCATE

I beg to move, in page 45, line 29, to leave out from "land," to end of the Sub-section, and to insert: (not being a restriction or condition relating exclusively to the erection or placing on the land of huts, tents, caravans, or other temporary or movable forms of shelter) may, at any time within three months after the restriction or condition is imposed, require the authority to purchase the land at a price to be assessed, failing agreement, as if it were compensation for a compulsory purchase, by arbitration in accordance with the provisions of Sub-section (2) of Section twelve of the Act of 1930. Under Clause 61 when a clearance order becomes operative a prohibition is put on the use of land for building purposes except subject to such restrictions and conditions as the local authority may impose. There may be cases in which it is desirable that land should not be built upon at all but should remain as an open space, and the conditions imposed by the local authority may be tantamount to a 1819 complete prohibition of building. The result is that the land cleared of buildings remains the property of the owner, but so far as any use that he can make of it is concerned, he might as well not be the owner. That is to say, the land is sterilised and it worthless to him. In such circumstances we thought it wise that there should be power to force the local authority to acquire the land, and that is the purpose of the Amendment.