HC Deb 12 May 1947 vol 437 cc1138-40
Mr. Silkin

I beg to move, in page 66, line 15, to leave out from "where," to the end of line 23, and to insert: planning permission is granted under Part II of this Act for the carrying out of operations of any class specified in the Third Schedule to this Act, or for the institution of any use so specified, then if—

  1. (a) compensation has been paid under section eighteen of this Act in consequence of a previous refusal of permission fix those operations or that use or of the grant of such permission subject to conditions, or in consequence of the revocation or modification of permission so granted; or
  2. (b) compensation has been paid under section twenty-four of this Act in consequence of am order requiring the removal of any building or the discontinuance of any use of land, and the planning permission authorises the rebuilding of that building or the resumption of that use."
The purpose of this Amendment is that when compensation has been paid by the local authority in respect of a refusal to permit development, and subsequently that development is permitted, the person carrying out the development shall become liable to pay development charge.

Mr. W. S. Morrison

I am desirous of a little further explanation of this from the Minister. In the draft of the Bill as it left the Committee, Subsection (3) of Clause 62 made provision whereby if compensation had been paid in the circumstances described by the Minister there would be a development charge. As far as I can understand from a cursory examination, this is a redraft of the provisions previously contained in Subsection (3). The new draft has the merit of additional clarity, but I would like an assurance from the Minister that nothing of principle is changed, and that it is a drafting Amendment. If it is not, I hope he will tell us what is the change of principle.

Mr. Silkin

I can give the right hon. Gentleman an assurance that this is not a question of principle; it is very largely a matter of drafting.

Amendment agreed to.

Mr. Silkin

I beg to move, in page 66, line 25, at the end, to insert: and where the amount of the development charge to be paid in respect of those operations or that use has been determined by the Central Land Board in accordance with the provisions of this Part of this Act, the Board may pay to any local authority by whom any such compensation as aforesaid has been paid a contribution towards that compensation not exceeding the said amount. This Amendment is designed to carry out an undertaking I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for North Tottenham (Mr. Irving). It provides that where the Central Land Board gets the benefit of compensation which has been paid by a local authority on refusal of permission to develop and permission is subsequently granted, if the Central Land Board levies a development charge it shall have the power to refund to the local authority a part or the whole of the development charge it receives.

Mr. Manningham-Buller

I wish to put a question arising from the right hon. Gentleman's last sentence about repayment in whole or in part. I rather antici- pated from his earlier remarks that the development charge levied would not exceed the amount of compensation paid by the local authority. If that be the case, of course, there would be no question of more than a payment from the Central Land Board to the local authority and no balance would remain for the Central Land Board. That should be the case, and the development charge should not exceed the amount of compensation.

Mr. Silkin

It need not be so. This Amendment is not designed to collect the amount of the development charge. That has already been settled. This merely provides that the Central Land Board may in certain circumstances make a payment to the local authority. In answer to the specific question, it would, of course, depend very much on when the original compensation is paid. If it were paid a considerable time back, or if a long period separated the payment of Compensation and the issue of the development charge, the circumstances might be very different, and the two need not necessarily have any relationship.

Amendment agreed to.

Mr. Silkin

I beg to move, in page 66, line 42, at the end, to add: (6) Any sums required by the Central Land Board for the making of contributions under this section shall be defrayed out of moneys provided by Parliament. This Amendment secures that any contribution made by the Board to a local authority, in accordance with the provision made in the last Amendment, should be paid out of monies provided by Parliament.

Amendment agreed to.

Clause, as amended, ordered to stand part of the Bill.