§ Mr. MillanI beg to move Amendment No. 12, in page 8, line 36, at end insert—
'(5) Where the Agency exercise or propose to exercise their powers under this section in connection with land as respects which a local authority have before the appointed day incurred expenditure in the exercise of similar powers, the Agency may, if they think fit, pay to the authority concerned the amount of that expenditure or any part thereof.'.The amendment is basically in the nature of a transitional provision. The claims of derelict land will become the Agency's responsibility. There is already provision in the Bill for transitional arrangements. It has been pointed out to us—for example, by the local authorities themselves—that in some cases they will have incurred expense on schemes which will be taken over by the Agency and which are not already covered by the transitional provisions in the Bill and they should be reimbursed for any expenses they have already incurred on the schemes. The effect of the amendment will be to empower the Agency to reimburse them. Obviously this is only right, as the local authority will no longer be responsible for the schemes. The local authorities have legitimately asked for this. It is an improvement in the Bill from their point of view.
§ Amendment agreed to.