HL Deb 01 August 1935 vol 98 cc1059-61

Clause 11, page 14, line 13, at end insert the following new clause:—

Power to acquire compulsorily for certain road purposes rights in connection with land belonging to local authorities and statutory undertakers.

(".—(1) Subject to the provisions of this section a compulsory purchase order under the last foregoing section may authorise a highway authority to acquire compulsorily, subject to such conditions (including conditions as to the persons by whom any works are to be constructed or maintained) as may be imposed by the order, a right upon, under, or over any land which is the property of any local authority (including any drainage board), or has been acquired by statutory undertakers for the purpose of their undertaking, if the acquisition is—

  1. (a) for the purposes of the construction of any bridge (not including the reconstruction or alteration of an existing bridge) upon, under, or over such land or of the approaches to any such bridge; or
  2. (b) for the purposes of any system of road drainage.

(2) A compulsory purchase order for the acquisition of any right for the purposes specified in the last foregoing subsection shall be made subject to such conditions as the Minister, after consultation with the local authority or statutory undertakers from whom the right is to be acquired, considers necessary for securing that the bridge and approaches or the drainage system, as the case may be, to be constructed will be so designed, constructed, and placed as to avoid unreasonable interference with the functions and future development of the local authority or statutory undertakers and shall provide for the bridge and approaches or the drainage system, as the case may be, being constructed and maintained, except so far as may be otherwise agreed, at the expense of the highway authority:

Provided that in the case of any such order authorising a highway authority to acquire a right for the purpose of substituting a bridge for any level crossing over a railway, the provisions of Sections six and seven of the Bridges Act, 1929, shall, as set out with modifications in the Fourth Schedule to this Act, apply with respect to the apportionment of the expenses of the construction and maintenance thereof.

(3) Where by means of a compulsory purchase order a highway authority has acquired from any local authority or statutory undertakers a right for any of the purposes specified in subsection (1) of this section any additional expense which is thereafter, in consequence of the construction of the bridge or approaches or of the drainage system, as the case may be, incurred by the local authority or statutory undertakers in connection with the widening or alteration upon land which was vested in them before the confirmation of the order of any railway, canal, inland navigation, dock, harbour works or apparatus belonging to them, shall be defrayed by the highway authority, and any question whether such additional expense has been so incurred or as to the amount thereof shall, in default of agreement, be determined by arbitration.

(4) A compulsory purchase order for the acquisition of any right for the purposes specified in paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section shall be made subject to such conditions as the Minister considers necessary for securing that no road shall be drained into any water-course under the control of a drainage board without the consent of that board or into any reservoir, river, canal, dock, harbour, basin or other work which belongs to or is under the jurisdiction of any local authority or statutory undertakers without their consent.

(5) Nothing in this section shall authorise the compulsory acquisition of any right in, under, or over any land for the purposes of the construction of a bridge under or over the Manchester Ship Canal.")

THE EARL OF PLYMOUTH

My Lords, this represents in revised form the original subsection (3) of Clause 10 as printed in the Bill. To meet objections raised in your Lordships' House, we have taken out the power to acquire land for improvement or enlargement of bridges as Parliament has so recently dealt with this in the Bridges Act, 1929. A number of minor Amendments have been incorporated as the result of conferences with various associations representative of statutory undertakers of all kinds. I beg to move that this House doth agree with the Commons Amendment.

Moved, That this House doth agree with the Commons in the said Amendment.—(The Earl of Plymouth.)

On Question, Motion agreed to.