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Lords Amendment: In page 55, line r6, after "Act" insert:
or to be carried out by a Government department.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed, "That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment."
§ Mr. Manningham-BullerAgain this is a small point, but it is not without some importance. Under Subsection (1) of Clause 47 it is stated that:
… the Minister of Transport may, it he is satisfied that it is necessary so to do in order to enable development to be carried out in accordance with planning permission granted under Part III of this Act, by order made in accordance with the provisions of the Sixth Schedule to this Act authorise the stopping up or diversion of any highway.840 By the addition of these words, one is giving the Minister of Transport power by order to stop up footpaths in the countryside, highways, and country roads where the development is to be carried out by a Government Department. I venture to suggest that the granting of that power to a Government Department really wants a little investigation. Will the development to be carried out by a Government Department be in conformity with a development plan, or can a Government Department carry out development not in accordance with the plan? Apparently, under this Clause a Government Department wanting to make any development will not have to get planning permission under Part III of this Act, and will not, in fact, have to refer the matter to the Ministry of Town and Country Planning. All it will have to do is to satisfy the Minister of Transport that it wants to make a development and then the Minister of Transport may, by Order, close highways, country lanes, footpaths, and things of that sort. It may, be right, but I think we ought to have a little explanation upon how this Amendment will operate.
§ Mr. SilkinThis will operate in the same way as all other Government operations do operate. There is co-operation between the Departments. It would be quite unthinkable for one Government Department to commence operations without consulting the Minister of Town and Country Planning and getting agreement. If they fail to get agreement, the matter would have to be settled in the usual way. I can assure the hon. and learned Gentleman that Government Departments will not act arbitrarily. They will conform with the plan. I have said this over and over again in Committee and, of course, the hon. and learned Gentleman knows exactly what I do say about these things by now. In 999 cases out of a thousand the thing works, and once in a thousand cases there is a slip up. The normal procedure is that the approval of the Ministry of Town and Country Planning is sought and obtained in these matters.