HC Deb 15 May 1973 vol 856 cc1470-1

Lords Amendment: No. 133, in page 67, line 20, at end insert new Clause J:

Land affected by new street orders

"J.—(1) Section 192(1) of the Act of 1971 shall have effect as if the land specified therein included land which—

  1. (a) either—
    1. (i) is within the outer lines prescribed by an order under section 159 of the Highways Act 1959 (orders prescribing minimum width of new streets); or
    2. (ii) has a frontage to a highway declared to be a new street by an order under section 30 of the Public Health Act 1925 and lies within the minimum width of the street prescribed by any bye-laws or local Act applicable by virtue of the order; and
  2. (b) is, or is part of—
    1. (i) a dwelling erected before, or under construction on, the date on which the order is made; or
    2. (ii) the curtilage of any such dwelling.

(2) The grounds on which objection may be made in a counter-notice to a blight notice served by virtue of subsection (1) above shall not include those specified in section 194(2)(b) or (c) of the Act of 1971.

(3) In relation to land within subsection (1) above "the appropriate authority" and "the appropriate enactment" for the purposes of sections 192 to 207 of the Act of 1971 shall be the highway authority for the highway in relation to which the order mentioned in that subsection was made and section 214(8) of the said Act of 1959 respectively.

(4) This section shall not enable a blight notice to be served in respect of any land in which the appropriate authority have previously acquired an interest either in pursuance of a blight notice served by virtue of this section or by agreement in circumstances such that they could have been required to acquire it in pursuance of such a notice."

Mr. Graham Page

I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.

Mr. Deputy Speaker

With this amendment we shall take Lords amendments Nos. 134 and 135.

Mr. Page

This new clause encompasses a subject introduced in another place. It brings within the blight provisions all those dwellings on new streets which were under construction or were already in existence at the time when the respective new street orders were made.

New street orders prescribe centre lines of new streets and outer lines defining minimum width. The effect is to prohibit erection of new buildings situated between the outer lines prescribed. The subsections make supplementary provisions but in general we have extended the blight provisions whereby an owner can serve a purchase notice if his property is blighted in cases where there are new street orders.

Perhaps I can go a little out of order, this being the last group of amendments, and thank the Opposition for the very valuable suggestions they made during the course of the Bill, a great number of which we have been able to meet. We are grateful to them for the very constructive way in which they approached the Bill—one could hardly call it opposition—and the way in which we managed to take the Bill through its previous stages with their help.

Mr. Mulley

I thank the right hon. Gentleman. It is clear that we are all anxious for the Bill to become law from our efforts tonight. It will be of great benefit to many people, and I am glad that it is now a better Bill than when it started out—we are all agreed on that. For the Opposition, I thank the Minister and the Under-Secretary of State for a most harmonious and constructive approach to the points we put forward. We are grateful that there has been such a satisfactory outcome.

Question put and agreed to

Subsequent Lords amendments agreed to, all with special entry.

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