Clause 1.—(EXTENSION OF STATE MANAGEMENT TO NEW TOWNS.) (Hansard, 10 May 1949)

§ Mr. Younger
I beg to move, in page 2, line 6, at the end, to insert: (3) In this section the expression new town' means an area designated as the site of a proposed new town under section one of the New Towns Act, 1946, by an order (whether made before or after the commencement of this Act) which has become operative. This Amendment would embody in Clause 1 all that is now left in Clause 2. Hon. Members will appreciate that there are now only four and a half lines of that Clause left, and there is an Amendment on the Order Paper in the name of my right hon. Friend to leave that out of the Bill.

§ Mr. Younger
I beg to move, in page 2, line 13, at the end, to insert: Provided that nothing in this subsection or the said Part II shall authorise the Secretary of State, at any premises where he carries on a business of selling intoxicating liquor for consumption off, but not on, the premises, to carry on any other business except the sale of mineral waters or other non-intoxicating drinks for consumption off the premises, tobacco or matches. I am sorry that my hon. Friend the Member for West Ealing (Mr. J. Hudson) is not present, because this meets a point which he raised during the Committee stage. One would have liked to have been able to give him something this afternoon. The point is that the hon. Member feared that paragraph 7 of the First Schedule might be thought to empower the Secretary of State to run grocers' or chemists' shops with off-licences. There was no intention of doing that, and this Amendment makes it clear that that is not authorised.

§ Mr. Younger
I beg to move, in page 2, line 28, to leave out from the beginning, to the end of line 29, and to insert: prepare a draft scheme for the constituting of the committee. (6) A development corporation by whom a draft scheme is prepared under the last foregoing subsection shall—

(a) send a copy thereof to every such county and county district council and to the licensing justices for every such licensing district as aforesaid, together with a notice specifying the time (not being less than 1745 twenty-eight days) within which representations with respect to the draft scheme may be made to the corporation;

(b) publish in one or more local newspapers circulating in the area of the new town a notice specifying the time aforesaid and a place or places where copies of the draft scheme will be available for inspection at all reasonable hours;

(c) submit to the Secretary of State a scheme for the constitution of the local advisory committee either in terms of the draft or with such modifications as appear expedient to the corporation, having regard to any representations duly made;

(d) forward to the Secretary of State, together with the scheme, any representations so made as aforesaid.

(7) Any scheme under this section— This Amendment deals with the procedure under which development corporations will submit to the Secretary of State schemes for the constitution of local advisory committees. The substantial part is the new subsection (6) which requires that draft schemes should be sent to the local authorities and the licensing justices with jurisdiction in the new towns; that it should be advertised in the local Press; and that it should be submitted whether modified or not, to the Secretary of State with copies of any representations that have been received.

§ Mr. Younger
I beg to move, in page 2. line 42, to leave out subsection (6), and to insert: (6) The provisions of the three last foregoing subsections shall apply in relation to each of the districts specified in Part I of the First Schedule to this Act—

(a) with the substitution for references to the development corporation of references to the persons acting as a local advisory committee in the district at the passing of this Act;

(b) with the omission of the reference to the coming into operation of the order designating the site of the new town; and

(c) subject to the provisions of the last foregoing paragraph, with the substitution for references to a new town of references to the district;

and until the scheme for the constitution of the local advisory committee for the district has been confirmed by the Secretary of State the persons mentioned in paragraph (a) of this subsection shall be the local advisory committee for the district. This Amendment carries out the intention announced by my right hon. Friend in Committee upstairs that an attempt should be made to give to existing State 1746 management districts the same measure of self-government with regard to the constitution of their advisory committees as is proposed for the new towns. The difficulty, of course, is that, in the existing districts, unlike the new towns, no development Corporations exist, and therefore the Amendment has to be adapted to meet that situation.

§ The Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. Woodburn)
I beg to move, in page 3, line 7, to leave out paragraph (a) and to insert: (a) for the words 'county and county district council,' there shall be substituted the words 'county town and district council'. This Amendment is in response to a suggestion made by the Opposition in Committee. Its effect is to require that in Scotland a district council, as well as county and town councils, whose area includes any part of a new town or an existing State management district, should be consulted in the preparation of any scheme. We think that any body of this kind, being a local body, ought to be represented and consulted, and this Amendment brings in the district councils in addition to the town and county councils.