§ PLANNING APPLICATIONS AND APPEALS BY STATUTORY UNDERTAKERS.
§ Mr. LubbockI beg to move Amendment No. 140, in page 50, line 23, to leave out paragraph (b).
The Minister of State said in Committee that the question of statutory undertakers was horribly complex. Everyone would agree with him, especially after hearing him move the previous series of Amendments. I hope that what I seek to do in this simple Amendment will be clear.
Subsection (2,b) provides that if a statutory undertaker proposes to acquire an interest in land with a view to its being used for the purpose of carrying on its undertaking, it goes straight to the Minister and by-passes the local authority. Some people consider that the privileges of statutory undertakers should be reduced much more drastically than I propose. The number of statutory undertakers is continuously increasing. There is a long list of them already. There is the original list of statutory undertakers in Section 221 of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1962, and 781 since then we have had others, such as the British Airports Authority. We are now proposing to add more, such as the passenger transport authorities and the National Bus Company referred to in the Transport Bill.
All these additional bodies will have the status of statutory undertakers and the special privileges which attach to it. As the Minister of State said in Committee, this matter caused the Government some anxiety and they thought it right to modify the privileges which these bodies possess. I am in sympathy with him. But, although we are limiting the rights of statutory undertakers in these three Clauses, in some respects, we are, I am sorry to say, expanding them in others. We are reducing the amount of compensation to which they are entitled in certain circumstances, but paragraph (b) which I am seeking to delete is an expansion of the powers they already possess.
The hon. and learned Gentleman quoted an example in Standing Committee which I hope is a hypothetical one. Supposing the British Airports Authority bought up land adjoining Heathrow or Stansted airport and claimed that it was operational land on the strength of the existing adjoining airport, it could then construct runways on the land to link up with the existing airport. That was the situation which the hon. and learned Gentleman said we had to deal with in the three Clauses on statutory undertakers. As I understand it, if the paragraph is left in, this would be land which the British Airports Authority propose to acquire an interest in with a view to its being used as part of their undertaking. They want to have land next door to Heathrow for some new runways, and under Clause 59 they are exempt from normal planning procedures. They can go straight to the sponsoring Ministers and by-pass the local authority.
The local authorities, would, I believe, approve of what I am seeking to do by this Amendment. They would like to be able to express an opinion on important planning matters such as this. They entirely approve the object of Clause 60, under which the British Airports Authority would not be entitled to full compensation if permission were refused 782 for the development, but they do not see any reason in general why the statutory undertakers should be put in a privileged position for this class of land which is proposed to be acquired for use by the undertaking.
I hope that the hon. and learned Gentlemen will agree that the deletion of paragraph (b) would be a great improvement.
§ Mr. MacDermotI do not think the hon. Gentleman has quite followed what has happened. We are not creating a new right; we are restoring a right which already exists and which has been taken away in another part of the Bill. At present in the case instanced by the hon. Gentleman, the British Airports Authority can acquire land adjoining the airfield and they can claim that it is operational land. If there is a dispute between them and the planning authority on whether it is operational land, that issue is determined by the sponsoring Minister alone. The planning Minister does not come into it. Once it is established to be operational land, if the planning authority refuse planning permission, they have to pay compensation at present of 100 per cent. We are saying that in future newly acquired land of that kind cannot become operational land until it gets planning permission.
The statutory undertaker in such a situation now would apply to the planning authority for planning permission. If it were refused, they then have a right of appeal. Appeals on planning applications by statutory undertakers are at present decided jointly by the sponsoring Minister and the planning Minister, and that it what this paragraph provides. It is an appeal machinery. If that planning permission is given, provided it satisfies the other tests, the land will then become operational land. In future in practice the determination this way round of what is operational land will be decided jointly by the two Ministers, and in this way planning interests will be properly balanced with the interests of statutory undertakers. There are other provisions elsewhere that ensure that this is carried through, and that the operational land decisions will be determined jointly by the two Ministers.
§ Amendment negatived.