ALTERATION OF STRUCTURE PLANS (Hansard, 11 June 1969)

§ Mr. Willis
I beg to move Amendment No. 4, in page 6, line 21, leave out 'as the case may be'.
If I were the Minister concerned I would merely say "Drafting," because that is all this Amendment is. My hon. Friend has accepted one of my Amendments which adds a lot of words to the Bill, and it is only right that as a kind of compensation I should do something to cut out a few words. The words I seek to leave out seem to be quite unnecessary and not to serve any useful purpose.

§ Mr. Wylie
The right hon. Gentleman the Member for Edinburgh, East (Mr. Willis) has a point here, and I hope that the Minister will accept it.

§ Dr. Dickson Mabon
The hon. and learned Gentleman is betting very badly: his gambling instincts are all wrong. If 1561 we were to take out these words and apply a very strict legal interpretation to the remaining words it might be argued with not unreasonable strength that local planning authorities were at liberty to submit either the proposals specified by the Secretary of State or other proposals which appeared to them to be expedient I have discussed this matter with the officials and we believe that this doubt could emerge if the words were taken out. If the hon. and learned Gentleman ponders that point for a moment he may wish to review his position.
To my right hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, East (Mr. Willis) I say that I have been generous, and rightly so, in relation to previous Amendments, but I am a little unhappy about accepting this Amendment. I have thought it over again and, on balance, I think that it would be unwise to take out these words. Their retention will make it absolutely clear, as distinct from leaving some doubt, that where the initiative in submitting the proposal to alter the structure plan is taken by the local planning authority, it submits what it thinks is expedient, but where it is taken by the Secretary of State the local planning authority must submit the alterations specified by him. In other words, if we retain these words there is no doubt in either case. To take them out would leave a doubt, and that would be unwise.

§ Mr. Willis
As I have already said, I am a simple soul, struggling to understand these technicalities. In this case I think it possible that my hon. Friend may be right. This is not a matter for which I would wish to go to the barricades, so I beg to ask leave to withdraw the Amendment.