Clause 50 (Hansard, 17 July 1972)

§ Mr. Speed
I beg to move Amendment No. 573, in page 27, line 15, at end insert: (6) In any case where the Secretary of State has made an order under section 1 of the New Towns Act 1965 designating any land as, or as an extension of, a new town and the area of the new town as so designated or so extended is not wholly comprised within one 161 district, he shall, as soon as practicable after the order has become operative, send to the English Commission a notice stating that the order is in operation and specifying the districts within which that area is situated, and on receipt of such a notice it shall be the duty of the Commission, subject to section 51(5) below, to review the areas of those districts for the purpose of considering whether or not to make such proposals in relation to them as are authorised by section 49 above and what proposals, if any, to make: and the Commission shall, if they think fit, formulate such proposals accordingly.

Mr. Deputy Speaker
With this Amendment it will be convenient to take Government Amendment No. 574.

§ Mr. Speed
These parallel Amendments operating for England and Wales respectively ensure that the local government boundary implications—

Mr. R. C. Mitchell
On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I once again make the request that we be told where these Amendments appear on the Amendment paper. Where is Amendment No. 574? I could not find the last one. Amendments are going through without hon. Members knowing where they are.

Mr. Deputy Speaker
I take it that the hon. Member is referring to Amendment No. 728

Mr. R. C. Mitchell
And now to Amendment No. 574.

Mr. Deputy Speaker
Amendment No. 573 is at the bottom of page 11173 of Part 1 of the Amendment Paper. Perhaps the Minister of State will help us as to the whereabouts of Amendment No. 574.

§ Mr. Speed
It is in Clause 57.

§ Mr. Maddan
It is on page 11176 of the Paper.

§ Mr. Speed
I will start again. These are parallel Amendments operating for England and Wales respectively to ensure that the local government boundary implications of new town designations or extensions are considered promptly. The Amendments have been tabled in fulfilment of an undertaking given in Committee during the debate on Amendments to achieve the same end which were achieved by the hon. Member for Bromsgrove (Mr. Terry Davis).
In detail, the making of an order under Section 1 of the New Towns Act, 1965, is the final stage in the procedure after 162 consultations. At that stage the Secretary of State either for the Environment or for Wales, as the case may be, looks to see whether the new town or, in the case of an extension, the whole extended new town lies in more than one district. If so, he must notify the Local Government Boundary Commission for England or Wales, as the case may be. The commission must then review the areas of the districts concerned in accordance with the general procedure for reviews and decide whether or not to make proposals. If the Secretary of State for the Environment considers it premature to carry out the review at this stage, if the review should be deferred so that he can have regard to other planning issues to be decided shortly, he will still notify the commission, under subsection (5) of Clause 51, to issue deferment directions. This does not apply to Wales, where the Secretary of State for Wales does not have such power.

§ Mr. Terry Davis (Bromsgrove)
I welcome this Government Amendment. It meets the points I made in a similar Amendment in Committee. I am grateful that the Government have had second thoughts.