§ Further Amendments made: No. 17, in page 8, leave out lines 10 to 12.
§ No. 19, in line 13, leave out subsection (3).
§ No. 20, in line 21, after 'section', insert 'and section (Country parks: sailing, boating, bathing and fishing)'.
§ No. 21, in line 22, leave out 'or in connection with'.
§ No. 22, in line 25, leave out 'or in connection with'.
§ No. 23, in line 33, after 'section', insert 'and section (Country parks: sailing, boating, bathing and fishing)'.—[Mrs. White.]
§ Mr. MacDermotI beg to move Amendment No. 24, in page 9, line 2, at end insert:
(7) If it appears to a local authority that land provided or acquired by them before the coming into force of this section, as open country to be used for the purposes of Part V of the Act of 1949, can suitably be used as o country park, that land, or any part of it, shall, from such date as the local authority may determine, be treated for all the purposes of this Act as a country park provided under this section; and, if the land was acquired under section 76 of the Act of 1949 (compulsory acquisition for public access), the land so treated shall cease to be subject to that section, but—
- (a) this subsection shall not affect any trust, covenant or other restriction to which the land is subject; and
- (b) no grant shall be payable under this Act in respect of expenditure incurred before the date so determined.
§ Mr. SpeakerI suggest it would be for the convenience of the House if we took with this Amendment Amendment No. 95, in page 8, line 35, after "ground" insert:
or land acquired under Part V of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949".and Amendment No. 97, in page 8, line 38, after "ground", insert:such land".
§ Mr. MacDermotThe effect of Amendment No. 24 is to enable local authorities who have acquired areas of open country under Section 76 of the 1949 Act to treat such areas, if suitable for the purpose, as country parks. Having done so they are to be exempted from the provisions of subsection (4) of 1278 Section 76 which lays certain duties on the authorities in relation to management for the purposes of open air recreation.
This Amendment implements an undertaking which I gave in the Standing Committee.
§ Mr. ChannonI rise to say how grateful we are to the Minister of State for putting down this Amendment. I am sure it will be extremely valuable to some local authorities who have already acquired land which they will be able to use as a country park.
§ Amendment agreed to.