DISPOSAL NOTIFICATION AREAS (Hansard, 14 October 1975)

HC Deb 14 October 1975 vol 897 cc1204-10 1204

§ Amendment made: No. 182, in page 78, line 5, leave out 'may be' and insert 'practicable'.—[Mr. Oakes.]

§ Mr. Alec Jones
I beg to move Amendment No. 183, in page 78, line 14, leave out 'council or, in Wales, every' and insert 'or'.

§ Mr. Speaker
With this we are to take the following amendments:

§ No. 189, in page 79, line 20, leave out 'council or, in Wales, every' and insert 'or'.

§ No. 194, in page 80, line 19, leave out 'council or, in Wales, every' and insert 'or'.

§ Mr. Jones
These are purely drafting amendments. They delete specific references to Welsh community councils as being bodies to which copies of DNA resolutions have to be sent. The references are not needed, as, in the context of the paragraphs concerned, the term "community council" could apply only in Wales, anyway. We therefore propose to delete these words.

§ Amendment agreed to.

1205

§ Amendments made:

§ No. 184, in page 78, line 16, leave out 'may be' and insert 'practicable'.

§ No. 185, in page 78, line 23, leave out 'may be' and insert 'practicable'.

§ No. 186, in page 79, line 11, leave out 'may be' and insert 'practicable'.—[Mr. Alec Jones.]

§ Mr. Alec Jones
I beg to move Amendment No. 187, in page 79, line 15, leave out from 'area' to 'may' in line 16 and insert: 'a map on which that part of the area is defined'.

§ Mr. Speaker
With this we are to take the following amendments—Nos. 188, 191, 192 and 193.

§ Mr. Alec Jones
These, too, are drafting amendments. I believe that they are of some importance because they will make the position somewhat clearer and easier as regards the details of the changes in any DNA. Paragraphs 2 and 4 of Schedule 7 as drafted are slightly defective, in that they do not prescribe with sufficient precision what the map defining the extent of a DNA that has been varied should show. The map is an important clement in the publicity to be given to DNAs and has to be available for inspection as well as being sent to the parish and community councils and deposited in the land charges register. In our view it is essential, therefore, that such a map should indicate clearly the changes which have been made. Amendments Nos. 187, 188 and 193 ensure that this will be done.
Amendment No. 191 brings the wording of the beginning of paragraph 4(2)(a) into line with that in paragraph 2(6)(a). It provides that where an authority varies a DNA it must publish a notice of the effect of its resolution instead of, as the Bill at present provides, a notice of the resolution itself. The idea of indicating the changes and the effect of these changes would be much more acceptable to those involved. This approach should be more helpful to interested land owners as it will save them time and make it much easier for them to understand the relationship between the original proposal and the new resolution.

§ Amendment agreed to.

1206

§ Amendments made: No. 188, in page 79, line 18, leave out "amended";

§ No. 189, in page 79, line 20, leave out "council or, in Wales, every" and insert "or";

§ No. 315, in page 79, line 27, after "notice" insert: shall be in the prescribed form and ";

§ No. 190, in page 80, line 12, leave out "may be" and insert "practicable";

§ No. 191, in page 80, line 14, leave out "resolution identifying the area" and insert "effect of the resolution";

§ No. 192, in page 80, line 16, leave out "a map on which" and insert: in the case of a resolution affecting a part only of the area, a map on which that part of";

§ No. 193, in page 80, line 18, leave out second "the" and insert "any";

§ No. 194, in page 80, line 19, leave out "council or, in Wales, every" and insert "or";

§ No. 195, in page 80, line 23, leave out "may be" and insert "practicable".—[Mr. John Silkin.]

§ Mr. Harry Ewing
I beg to move, Amendment No. 196, in page 80, line 29, after "publication", insert: in the London Gazette or the Edinburgh Gazette, as the case may require, and". Schedule 7(5) provides that the notices that are required to be published concerning disposal notification areas shall be published in two or more papers circulating in the locality of the area concerned. The amendment extends this requirement to include publication in the London Gazette or, in Scotland, the Edinburgh Gazette. The House will agree that this meets a point that was made in Committee, when it was suggested that the publication should extend beyond the local Press. We are happy to propose this amendment.

§ Amendment agreed to.

§ Mr. Oakes
I beg to move, Amendment No. 197, in page 80, leave out lines 36 and 37 and insert: (a) liability for any offence committed, or

(b) the operation of any notice served under section 193(1) of the Act of 1971 or section 182(1) of the Scottish Act of 1972 (power to serve blight notice),
before the resolution or notification.". 1207 This is a further saving provision for offences committed at a time when land is in a disposal notification area, but the land is subsequently taken out of the area either by the authority or by the Secretary of State. The effect of the amendment is to add a further saving provision for blight notices under Section 192(1) of the 1971 Act, served at a time when the land is blighted, where the land in question subsequently ceases to be in a disposal notification area. Once the land has ceased to be in a disposal notification area the blight may remain because an authority may still have plans which could involve the acquisition of the land. It is right that the blight procedure, once started, should be allowed to take its natural course, so that the authority will still have the opportunity to issue a counter-notice saying that it does not intended to acquire the land or may be forced to buy it if it is clear that it still requires it.
Without this saving provision made by the amendment the blight procedure might simply stop in midstream leaving the owner-occupier in considerable uncertainty about the authority's intentions. This is a provision to help the owner-occupier in those circumstances.

§ Mr. Graham Page
The first part of the amendment draws attention to the unacceptable face of land nationalisation in that it has to be accompanied by offences which the individual may commit if he proposes to dispose of his land and if that land happens to be in a disposal notification area, and if he omits at the right time—I still do not know what the right time is—to state when he proposes to dispose of it. If he fails to do that he is liable to be fined £400 or, on indictment, he is liable to "a fine", which means any size of a fine.
The sad point is that if the disposal notification area is removed the prosecution continues, because he has failed to give that notice. There is a saving grace in the amendment, as the Minister has said. It is contained in the second part of the amendment. It says that even when the disposal notification area has been cancelled, removed, or suspended—or whatever the correct word may be—if the blight procedure has been started it will continue. I am grateful to the Minister for discovering this omission in the 1208 Bill as drafted, and for proposing the second part of the amendment.
I mention a small drafting point. The last words of the amendment are "resolution or notification". The Minister will observe that in paragraph 6 notification is used in two senses—namely the disposal notification area and the notification of cancellation under paragraph 2(6). Will the Minister consider adding to the last word of the amendment the words "under paragraph 2(6)", or in some other way identify the notification to which he refers? The amendment may be all right as it stands, but when I read it I was puzzled and had to read it again to make quite certain which notification it meant.

§ Mr. Oakes
With the leave of the House. Anything that puzzles the right hon. Gentleman might cause consternation to someone else. I am grateful to him for making the point, and for his remarks. I will give my attention to the possibility of adding words after the word "notification". It is essential that we are clear what sort of notification we mean.

§ Amendment agreed to.

§ Mr. Harry Ewing
I beg to move, Amendment No. 198, in page 80, line 40, after 'but', insert '(a)'.

§ Mr. Speaker
With this it will be convenient to take Amendment No. 201, in page 81, line 5, at end insert— 'and

(b) in the case of a resolution passed by of notification received by a general planning authority, that authority shall send as soon as practicable a copy of such resolution or notification and of any map to every district council whose district com prises any part of the disposal notification area or any part thereof affected by the resolution, or as the case may be, notification'.

§ Mr. Ewing
Paragraph 7 of this schedule requires resolutions declaring or terminating disposal notification areas, and also notifications from the Secretary of State revoking or amending declaration of such areas, to be placed on the register kept by virtue of Section 31(2) of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1972, in other words, the planning register. This amendment requires that in addition to registering the resolution or notification in the planning register, the general planning authority shall send a copy of any resolution or 1209 notification and of any map to every district council whose district comprises any part of the disposal notification area.
It is our opinion that these authorities should receive individual notification regarding disposal notification areas which affect them and this falls within the procedures for notification of parish councils in England.
It has the further advantage that in the widespread geographical area of a general planning authority there will be available, within reasonable distance of a disposal notification area, a copy of the resolution or notification appertaining to it, access to which could, if it were convenient, be made available for inspection by the public.

§ Mr. Graham Page
Could the hon. Gentleman make it clear whether he has joined the Liberal Party or whether the hon. Member for the Isle of Wight (Mr. Ross) has joined the Government because at the head of the Amendment No. 201 there appears the name of the hon. Member for Isle of Wight, but the amendment is being moved by the Minister.

§ Mr. Harry Ewing
I can clear that point up with considerable ease. To my certain knowledge the only attempts that have been made in recent history in the House for two parties to join together were the rather abortive attempts of the Conservative and Liberal parties after the General Election in February 1974. The amendment should be in the name of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland.

§ 7.0 p.m.

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. We are getting a little wide on what is obviously a misprint.

§ Amendment agreed to.

§ Amendments made: No. 199, in page 80, line 42, leave out 'may be' and insert practicable'.

§ No. 200, in page 81, line 1, leave out 'may be' and insert 'practicable'.

§ No. 201, in page 81, line 5, at end insert: 'and (b) in the case of a resolution passed by or notification received by a general planning authority, that authority shall send as soon as practicable a copy of such resolution or notification and of any map to every district 1210 council whose district comprises any part of the disposal notification area or any part thereof affected by the resolution, or as the case may be, notification'.—[Mr. Harry Ewing.]