AGREEMENTS BETWEEN HIGHWAY AND LOCAL AUTHORITIES. (Hansard, 10 April 1968)

§ Mr. Buchan

I beg to move Amendment No. 13, in page 4, line 21, leave out 'question' and insert 'dispute '.

It was argued in Committee that the Secretary of State, in deciding questions under subsection (3), should not be the judge in a dispute to which he is a party. It is not the intention that he should be able to settle such a dispute, and since the Committee stage we have again examined the drafting to ensure that this intention is given effect. I asserted most strongly that he would not be a party to any dispute in which he was involved. However, when we looked at the present wording it seemed possible that the Clause could have been read as empowering the Secretary of State in certain circumstances to rule upon a question where he is involved, for example, as the highway authority for trunk roads. In other words, he could consider that the other authority was acting unreasonably and that he was not. That was not our intention, and the Amendments put it beyond doubt that his powers of arbitration are restricted to disputes where he is not a party.

Amendment 16 implements an undertaking given in Committee. Its effect is to require the Secretary of State, before deciding whether a local highway authority or a local authority is behaving unreasonably, to consult with the authorities concerned. This is in line with other provisions of the Bill.