§ 3.54 p.m.
§ LORD LLEWELLIN rose to move to resolve, that an humble Address be presented to His Majesty praying that the Town and Country Planning (Grants) Regulations, 1950, dated January 19, 1950, a copy of which was laid before Parliament on January 20, be annulled. The noble Lord said: My Lords, it is unusual to find a Prayer on the Order Paper of this House, yet we have as undoubted a right as another place to pray against a Statutory Instrument, and, indeed, in appropriate cases to reject an affirmative Resolution placed before us. 1127 One of the difficulties inherent in this procedure is that neither House can amend these Regulations, and one has to pray for the annulment of the whole or hold one's peace. The Regulations to which I am drawing your Lordships' attention to-day are the Town and Country Planning (Grants) Regulations, 1950. I am not at all desirous of having the whole of these Regulations cancelled. I desire to draw attention to only one portion of them.
It is interesting to note that the Regulations, which were promulgated on January 19, are headed "Statutory Instruments: 1950, No. 88." My comment on that is that in the first nineteen days of this year there have been laid no fewer than eighty-eight Statutory Instruments, each having the force of law. That means that we are turning these things out, or were in those nineteen days, at an average rate of more than five in every working day. Such has been the trend of modern legislation. How on earth those who have to advise on the law can manage to keep up with this spate of Statutory Instruments beats me. To revert to these particular Regulations, I would point out that one of the provisions is that it shall be a condition of grant that the Government's Valuation Office, the district valuers, shall undertake negotiations for the acquisition of all land for local authorities, however good the local authorities' own valuation officers are. In some cases, of course, local authorities are only too glad to make use of the services of the district valuers. But these Regulations make it compulsory in every case for every local authority to use them if they are to qualify for a grant.
On January 25, six days after these Regulations were laid, the first Report of the Local Government Man-power Committee was presented to Parliament by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with the notification that the Government had accepted its recommendations. This Report said, amongst other things, that local authorities
should be recognised as responsible bodies, competent to discharge their own functions and exercising their responsibility in their own right.
It further said that:
irritation and waste of man-power could be eliminated by getting rid of a detailed examination
1128
by the professional staff of the Government Department concerned of similar work already done by the professional staff of the local authority.
Of course, the compulsory use of the district valuer is a complete negation of these principles which have been accepted by the Government. Perhaps that is not a very good instance of perfect internal planning in the Government itself, but I will pass that by with just that comment.
§ Suffice it to say now that the County Councils' Association, the Association of Municipal Corporations, the Urban District and Rural District Councils' Association, the Metropolitan Boroughs Standing Joint Committee and the London County Council are all opposed to this compulsory use by them of the district valuer in all their negotiations. I am glad to notice when it is sought to apply this compulsion to them, that they are all now dead against the idea that the Valuation Office should have the last and only word and there should be no appeal. I am glad to have these powerful bodies as allies in the plea which others of your Lordships and I have made for an appeal tribunal to be set up under the Town and Country Planning Acts.
§ I do not intend to take up any more time to-day because I am given to understand that this matter was raised last night in another place. Unfortunately, the next day's OFFICIAL REPORT nowadays does not always cover the proceedings until the rising of the House, and the House of Commons OFFICIAL REPORT for yesterday stops just short of the Prayer that was moved in another place last night. I am given to understand, however, that an undertaking was then given by the Minister of Town and Country Planning. Therefore, all I would say is that if that undertaking is to the effect that as soon as practicable the Minister will bring in new Regulations altering the provision to make the use of the district valuer compulsory in every case, however good the local authority's own valuation staff may be, then I shall have achieved all that I set out to do. In that case we shall be standing shoulder to shoulder with another place in keeping, as I think we should, a watchful eye on the Executive, and helping the Government to keep these Regulations in line with their own declared policy. My Lords, I beg to move.
1129§ Moved, That an humble Address be presented to His Majesty praying That the Town and Country Planning (Grants) Regulations, 1950, dated 19th January, 1950, which were laid before Parliament on the 20th of January, be annulled.—(Lord Llewellin.)
§ 4.2 p.m.
§ THE PAYMASTER-GENERAL (LORD MACDONALD OF GWAENYSGOR)My Lords, I am never happier in your Lordships' House than when I am able to go a long way, if not all the way, to meet the request of the Opposition, especially when that request is put forward by the noble Lord, Lord Llewellin. It is quite correct that a similar Motion, almost in identical terms, was moved yesterday in another place, and it is also quite right that the Minister made a rather important statement. I do not think I can do better than read the statement, or the gist of the statement, made in another place.
The Minister intimated that the representatives of the local authorities had urged him in the case of those authorities who already have their own qualified staff, to waive the requirement to which objection had been taken, and further that, as regards the remaining local authorities, he should open discussions immediately as to the form in which new Regulations should be framed, so as to empower him to require the use of the district valuer in negotiations in such individual cases as he may from time to time decide. My right honourable friend said he was prepared to accept this proposal, but that on further reflection over the week-end he had decided to go further: he now proposed accordingly to expunge from the Regulations altogether the requirement that as a condition of payment of grant use must be made of the services of the district valuer in negotiations for the purposes of acquisition and assessment of compensation.
I am happy to be able to repeat that undertaking to your Lordships. My right honourable friend would wish me to make it clear that the use of the district valuer will continue for the purpose of valuation as distinct from negotiation; that is to say, that in every case the district valuer will be asked to give a certificate as to the price which in his view would be reasonable. If a local authority should decide to go beyond that certificate, it is understood that grant would 1130 not be paid. I am informed that the local authorities have accepted this condition without reservation and, indeed, have made it plain that they welcome the fullest possible co-operation from the district valuer. I am happy to say that they have made it plain throughout that their objection to the requirement is in no way on the footing that district valuers have not co-operated on every occasion, or that there has been any question of incompetence. My right honourable friend has asked me to say that he hopes to give effect to his undertaking as soon as possible, and that the result will be before Parliament in the course of next week. I hope that, with that assurance, the noble Lord will not press his Motion.
§ LORD LLEWELLINMy Lords, I am extremely obliged to the noble Lord for his answer. In my speech I anticipated slightly this undertaking, which meets the point which I wished to be met. As I said before, we were disturbed on only one point, and not upon the whole of the Regulation. I am delighted that the Regulations are going to be amended and in so short a time; and on the undertaking given I beg leave of the House to withdraw my Motion.
§ Motion, by leave, withdrawn.