§ 2.55 p.m.
§ EARL BATHURST rose to move, That the Draft Central Land Board (Distribution and Transfer of Functions) Order in Council, 1959, be approved. The noble Earl said: My Lords, I beg to move the approval of this Order. In 1947 the Government of the Party of noble Lords opposite introduced the Bill which is now the Town and Country Planning Act, 1947, and with it the development charges and all that went therewith. They set up the Central Land Board to administer that Bill and everything appertaining to these development charges. In 1953, the Government of my noble friends on this side of the House swept away the development charges. Under Section 63 of the Town and 9 Country Planning Act, 1954, it was envisaged that at a given time in the future there would no longer be a function for the Central Land Board to perform, and provision was made under Section 63 of that Act whereby the Central Land Board could be dissolved by my right honourable friend by an Order in Council. That is the purpose of this Order. Within this Order there is a similar provision for Scotland. The Order dissolves the Central Land Board and transfers all its powers and obligations to my right honourable friend the Minister for Housing and Local Government. There is no difference to the private individual, except that any correspondence resulting from the 1947 Act which may still be in train will be addressed to my right honourable friend the Minister instead of to the Central Land Board.
§ Moved, That the Draft Central Land Board (Distribution and Transfer of Functions) Order in Council, 1959, be approved.—( Earl Bathurst.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.