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Lords Amendment: In page 3, line 34. leave out "as aforesaid" and insert:
of providing such accommodation as is mentioned in subsection (1) of this section, or in the case of which it appears to them desirable that it should be retained for either of the purposes mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (b) of the last foregoing subsection.
§ Mr. Deputy-Speaker (Sir Rhys Hopkin Morris)This Amendment raises a question of Privilege. If the House agrees, I shall cause a special entry to be made in the Journal.
§ 8.43 p.m.
§ The Minister of Housing and Local Government (Mr. Harold Macmillan)I beg to move, "That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment."
This Amendment was made in another place on the representations of the local authority associations. Subsection (4) empowers a local authority to purchase houses for patching in a clearance area notwithstanding the fact that clearance orders have already been made in respect of them before the commencement of the Act. These are mainly pre-war clearance orders which, owing to the housing shortage, were not enforced.
The powers under this subsection will extend to houses which were not intended to be patched, but which were required for the support of patched houses or in connection with other purposes, such as the storage of tools and equipment. Houses required by local authorities for this purpose may already have been made the subject of clearance orders as were other houses, and, therefore, it seems reasonable that local authorities should have the right to purchase them in the same way as the others.
§ Mr. A. Blenkinsop (Newcastle-upon-Tyne, East)I just want to say that this is not a very important Amendment, and that we regard it as consequential to some of the discussions which we had earlier.