§ 5. Mr. Boyd-Carpenterasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will reconsider his decision compulsorily to acquire for £3 a plot of building land at Peacehaven owned by a resident in the Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames, particulars of which have been sent to him.
§ Mr. PriorThis small plot of 1/17th of an acre was acquired in 1960 in order to amalgamate it with neighbouring land and keep it in agricultural use. It is still used for this purpose. The compensation was assessed as the fair price by the Lands Tribunal, and I regret that it is not open to me to increase the assessment.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterI thank my right hon. Friend for the personal trouble which I know he has taken over this case. Is it not the case that if the law is such as to produce this legalised robbery, surely that is an overwhelming argument for early amendment of the law and suspending action over this plot until the law has been properly amended?
§ Mr. PriorI congratulate my right hon. Friend on putting down an agricultural Question. He will appreciate that there is a general code of compensation which applies to all these cases. I have no evidence that the code was not correctly applied, and it would be a very grave matter to seek now to over-rule the findings of the Tribunal. But I have noted what he has said and would like to consider it further.