Clause 25.—(VARIATION OF SPECIAL REVIEW AREAS.) (Hansard, 7 May 1958)

§ Mr. Bevins

I beg to move, in page 20, line 9, after "order", to insert: made on the representations of. or after consultation with, the Commission". Clause 25 (1) gives the Minister power to vary a special review area one way or the other, either by adding to it or by taking from it. In Committee it was agreed that an Amendment should be accepted which required the Minister to consult the local authorities directly affected before making any such Order. There was, however, a little suspicion in the minds of some hon. Members about the object of this whole provision.

Our primary object is simply to make sure that if the Commission, after starting its work, decides to ask the Minister either to extend or to reduce a special review area, the Minister will be able to do so subject to his consulting the local authorities. There is nothing sacrosanct about the special review areas as they are defined in the Third Schedule. My right hon. Friend has made it abundantly clear over and over again that they are simply a basis from which we start.

Naturally, we have made as careful an assessment as we could in defining them, but it is unreasonable to expect us to do this except as an approximation. Only a detailed review of the circumstances in the various localities can produce a precise pattern, and that, of course, is the job of the Local Government Commission.

This Amendment and the next Amendment are designed to give emphasis to this point. They stipulate that an Order under Clause 25 (1)—that is, the changing of a special review area—can be made only where the Commission has so recommended or has at least been consulted. In the ordinary way the Minister will leave the initiative to the Commission but we feel that he should have power to act on his own responsibility in, for example, a case where, in spite of the advice of the Commission, he is overwhelmingly convinced that a local authority's request, either to be put in or to be left out, is a good one, and even in this exceptional case the Minister would still require to consult the Commission before taking action.