HC Deb 24 November 1971 vol 826 cc1328-9
20. Mr. Lane

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will publish a Green Paper with proposals for amending the law on compensation.

Mr. Graham Page

I do not think a Green Paper would be the most appropriate way to announce our intentions when we have completed our review.

Mr. Lane

Will my hon. Friend reconsider that reply? We all realise how complex the issue is and how full his hands and those of his colleagues are at the moment, but there is great public impatience. Could he try to publish proposals before Easter, in whatever form?

Mr. Page

We have already consulted very widely—perhaps too widely for speed in making our decisions. I think that it is right that we should publish our decisions quite definitely, and then there will be plenty of scope for discussing them.

Mr. Crawshaw

Despite the good work done by the Labour Government's legislation for giving compensation in these cases, there are certain anomalies in that one house which is the subject of such an order may get full compensation while the house next door may get only site value. Would it not be more equitable to assess this on a sliding scale so that there is not a sharp division between the house that gets full compensation and the one that gets nothing?

Mr. Page

That is the sort of thing we have considered in the review, and I ask the hon. Gentleman to await the results.