HL Deb 13 June 1898 vol 59 cc16-8

The House went into Commit tee on this Bill.

*THE LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (The Duke of DEVONSHIRE) moved, as an Amendment— Clause 2, page 1, lines 14 and 15, leave out 'the said' and insert 'a school.'

Amendment agreed to.

* THE EARL OF JERSEY

My Lords, I beg to move as an Amendment to leave out from line 16, page 3, to line 22, page 4. In asking your Lordships to omit the portion of the Order which deals with the parish of Chailey I hope I shall be able to make my case clear in a very few words. For some years the Brighton School Board has leased some property in the parish of Chailey for the purpose of an industrial school. When that lease terminated, the School Board was anxious to renew it, and negotiations were entered into for the renewal of the lease. But shortly afterwards a change in the constitution and the views of the Brighton School Board took place, the agreement for a new lease was repudiated, and the school board decided to apply for compulsory powers to purchase. It is against the granting of those compulsory powers that the parish of Chailey have petitioned your Lordships' House, and I have laid that petition on the Table. It certainly would seem very hard if the Brighton School Board were allowed to put the Land Clauses Act into operation in order to turn what had hitherto been a voluntary arrangement into a compulsory acquisition. Chailey, I may mention, is 14 miles away from the town of Brighton, and if it had not been for the fact that the parish council had been willing to allow some of their property to be leased to the school board there would have been no connection whatever between Brighton and Chailey so far as an industrial school was concerned. I need not point out to your Lordships that this power of acquiring a site compulsorily would seem to be very much strained if the Brighton School Board were to be allowed to take advantage of what has hitherto been a friendly arrangement, and turn it into a compulsory one. I venture to think that the Order has been issued under some misapprehension, as there is a strong feeling against it in the parish of Chailey. As I have mentioned, Chailey is 14 miles from Brighton. This property might be used for various purposes, into which I need not enter, and it has absolutely no connection whatever with the Brighton School District. I hope, therefore, that the noble Duke will be able to acquiesce in the view of the parish council of Chailey, which is that it would be very hard on them to compel them to sell nearly one half of their property in order to provide a site for an industrial school for Brighton. There does not seem to be any overwhelming reason why the Brighton School Board should settle down upon Chailey. Surely the fact that there has been a friendly agreement ought not to give the Brighton School Board a locus standi in Chailey. I hope the noble Duke the Lord President of the Council will see his way to allow this portion of the Bill to be omitted.

* THE LOUD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (The Duke of DEVONSHIRE)

My Lords, I have looked into this matter, and I am inclined to agree with my noble Friend that the parish council of Chailey has been somewhat hardly dealt with. The local inquiry which is provided for by the Act was held somewhat late in the year, and certain recommendations winch were made by the inspector who held that inquiry were not able to be acted upon in consequence of the pressure of time. The parish council are, I believe, although it has not been stated by my noble Friend, ready to continue to allow the Brighton School Board the use of this land on a lease for a term of 50 years, or even longer. "This," the inspector says, "seems to me to afford a basis for the settlement of the dispute without recourse to a Provisional Order." I am inclined to agree with my noble Friend that it would be somewhat hard on the parish council to put them to the trouble and expense of opposing this Provisional Order before a Select Committee, and I trust that the postponement of the matter for a year, which will be the result of the omission of the Order, may enable an amicable arrangement to be arrived at between the school board and the parish council.

Amendment agreed to, and Bill passed through Committee; Report of Amendments to be read To-morrow.