HC Deb 10 December 1974 vol 883 cc443-5
Mr. Corrie

I beg to move Amendment No. 108 in page 14, line 7, after ' order', insert 'and of any land adjacent to land so specified'.

The Chairman

With this it will be convenient to take the following amendments:

No. 109, in page 14, line 7, after 'order', insert and of land contiguous to such specified land'. No. 110 in page 14, line 7, leave out 'and ' and insert (b) 'serve on each local authority in whose area the land lies; and '. No. 111, in page 14, line 8, after 'publish' insert 'in two successive weeks '. No. 145, in page 14, line 8, after 'locality', insert 'and any of the local newspapers '.

Mr. Corrie

It may be that this point is covered in previous planning. If so, no doubt the Minister will tell me.

The proposers of this amendment feel that it is only right that the owners of land adjacent to land specified in the order should be advised of what is happening on their boundaries. It is quite possible that neighbouring land would have to be crossed or be affected by development on its boundaries or by pollution from that development. It may be that the owner of neighbouring land has rights of way across the area scheduled for development and would naturally have a serious interest in future access.

In many of these Highland areas there are small crofts with common grazings. If a developed area came between a crofting village and its common grazing, it would be only fair that the people concerned should be notified personally.

I hope that the Minister will see fit to accept the amendment.

Mr. John Smith

I thought that hon. Members who had put their names to Amendment No. 110 would take the opportunity of speaking to it, but they do not appear to want to do so.

Amendments Nos. 108 and 109 require that notice should be given to owners of adjacent or contiguous land. I understand the point behind the amendments. The difficulty is that the process of identifying all interests in adjacent or contiguous land could add considerably to the administrative work involved in the preparation of orders. We have permission to publish them in newspapers. If Amendment No. 1ll is moved, I intend to accept it because it will give even wider spread to the notice given.

I believe that that is the best that can be done. I once moved a similar amendment to a previous Bill in a Scottish Standing Committee. I had to accept the explanation that was then given, and I hope that the hon. Gentleman will do the same now.

Mr. Corrie

I am prepared to accept the Minister's explanation. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

Amendment made: No. 1ll, in page 14, line 8, after 'publish', insert 'in two successive weeks'.—[Mr. Corrie.]

Mr. Millan

I beg to move Amendment No. 112, in page 14, line 25, leave out '14' and insert '21'.

The Chairman

With this it will be convenient to take Amendment No. 113, in page 14, line 25, leave out '14' and insert '28'.

Mr. Millan

We are dealing with Schedule 1 and the length of notice required for making representations on a proposed expedited acquisition order.

There was widespread feeling on Second Reading that 14 days' notice was not sufficient. We have replaced that by a period of 21 days in this amendment. The precedent for 21 days as the minimum period of notice under the compulsory purchase procedure is taken from the Acquisition of Land (Authorisation Procedure) (Scotland) Act 1947.

Amendment No. 113 proposes that 28 days should be the minimum. There seems no particular reason why there should be a longer period in this instance than under the normal CPO procedure. There is, in fact, a case for making the period shorter. However, in view of the representations that have been made, we have standardised the period at 21 days. I hope that that will be felt by the Committee to be an acceptable provision.

Mr. Alexander Fletcher

We appreciate the points that the Minister has made. In tabling the amendment we believed that 28 days, in all the circumstances, would be fair, as only representations can be made here, and particularly as the Bill is hardly a sharp instrument for planning procedures. But we accept the points which the Minister has made.

Amendment agreed to.

The Chairman

The next amendment is No. 114, in page 14, line 29, leave out 'but' and insert 'and'. With this we are to take the following amendments: No. 115, in page 14, line 29, leave out 'not'. No. 116, in page 14, line 32, after ' representations "insert 'and the recommendations of any person appointed by him for the purposes of hearing such representations'.

Mr. Gordon Wilson

It would be wasting the time of the Committee to proceed further with these amendments, unless there is an indication from the Government Front Bench that the Government would be prepared to accept the suggestions made in each of them. Otherwise, I would seek the leave of the Committee not to proceed with them.

The Chairman

Amendments not moved.

Schedule 1, as amended, agreed to.

Schedule 2 agreed to.

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