§ Amendments made: No. 168, in page 20, line 24, leave out 'commencement date (as defined in section 9 of this Act)' and insert 'relevant date'.
§ No. 169, in page 20, line 35, leave out 'paragraph 1 of Schedule 6' and insert 'that paragraph'.—[Mr. John Silkin.]
§ Mr. John SilkinI beg to move Amendment No. 170, in page 20, line 38, leave out 'when granted'.
§ Mr. Deputy SpeakerWith this we are to take Amendment No. 171, in page 20, line 39, at end insert:
'unless all the authorities concerned have abandoned their power to purchase the land (in the sense mentioned in subsection (2) above)'.
§ Mr. SilkinGovernment Amendment No. 170 seeks to do what Opposition Amendment No. 171 sets out to do. This is something that was raised in Committee. The Opposition amendments then put forward were defective, as, I regret to say, is their Amendment No. 171.
Amendment No. 170, which fulfils the undertaking that we gave in Committee, is not defective and covers the point, which is that Clause 22 and Schedule 6 are based on the principle that where a planning permission is granted for relevant 1161 development the authority should have the opportunity to consider acquisition of the land before the development covered by the permission is started. Normally we would expect the decisions on acquisition and the planning application to be made at the same time.
It could happen that a decision not to acquire is made before the permission is granted. If this happens there is no need for the suspension ever to take effect. It is just arguable that the Bill as drafted would bring about suspension in these circumstances. The amendment cures this flaw, and I hope that the Opposition will support it.
§ Amendment agreed to.