Clause 27.—(APPLICATION OF PART I TO SCOTLAND.) (Hansard, 2 June 1960)

§ Mr. Leburn
I beg to move, in page 18, line 30, to leave out paragraph (e).
This is a drafting Amendment consequential on the Amendment to Clause 2 (2) transferring the revised list of exemptions to a Schedule. Paragraph 11 of the Schedule is in the form appropriate to Scotland and so the paragraph of the application Clause is now unnecessary.

§ Mr. Leburn
I beg to move, in page 19, line 1, after "twenty" to insert: (i) in subsection (I), the words "within their area" shall be omitted; (ii). Perhaps with this Amendment we can take the next Amendment, in line 5, after "and", insert "(iii)".
This Amendment is to enable Scottish local authorities to provide sites outside their own areas. In discussions with the Scottish local authority associations it was made clear that conditions in Scotland are somewhat different from those in England. Many of the smaller Scottish burghs would find that they were hampered by the lack of caravan sites in their own areas. In many cases the boundaries follow the built-up area fairly closely and even though a site could be squeezed within the burgh boundaries it would be unlikely to be good planning. Clearly where sites are needed they should be placed where good planning dictates. Planning control will remain with the local planning authority in the area where the site is located. Licensing control will remain with the licensing authority.

§ Mr. Willis
I assume from what the hon. Gentleman has said about this Amendment that the local authorities were consulted after the Bill had been published. That seems quite wrong. Surely consultation should have taken place before the Bill was drafted, in which case there would have been no necessity for this Amendment. I wish to express my strong disapproval I 1723 suspected that the Government had just gone into this matter as usual without giving much thought to it, and having done so they found that the local authorities were not satisfied. Therefore, they have had to move this Amendment. I hope at a later stage to be able to say something further on the matter, which I consider most unsatisfactory.

§ Mr. Ross
I wish to congratulate the junior Member of the trinity of Joint Under-Secretaries of State for Scotland on having listened to the Scottish local authorities. Has he told the local authorities what he is doing? I think that my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, East (Mr. Willis) is wrong, and that a discussion did take place before the Bill was actually published. Then the local authorities made certain suggestions to the Government and the authorities were led to understand that before anything else was done there would be a further meeting. That further meeting has never taken place. The authorities have not heard anything from the Government.
I wish to know whether this is one of the matters which was discussed with the Scottish local authorities. In this case it must have been the Convention of Royal Burghs. I cannot see the County Councils Association being concerned. It seems to relate to the small burghs. Has the hon. Gentleman consulted the Convention of Royal Burghs? This is the only point with which they were concerned which has been met by the Secretary of State.

§ Mr. Leburn
The local authorities were consulted on various matters. Certainly the County Councils Association has an interest in this matter. If a caravan site is taken outside the boundary of a burgh, it would be in the landward area of the county. The point arises from the fact that my right hon. Friend has incorporated an Amendment to show that in England the local authorities will not be in a position to provide a site outside their boundaries. That made it necessary to make this Amendment apply to Scotland.