TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING (MINERALS) REGULATIONS 1963 (Hansard, 10 July 1963)

§ THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT (LORD HASTINGS)
My Lords, these Regulations are made by the Minister, with the consent of the Treasury, under the provisions of Sections 197 and 217 of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1962. The former section enables the Minister to adapt and' modify the provisions of the Act as may be appropriate for mineral working. The Regulations take the place of the Town and Country Planning (Minerals) Regulations, 1954. The Regulations of 1954 adapted the provision of planning legislation as it existed at that time to the circumstances of mineral working. Planning legislation has since been consolidated in the Town and Country Planning Act, 1962, which came into operation on April 1, 1963. This means in particular that the references to various statutory provisions in the complicated Regulations of 1954 are now out of date.
In view of this consolidation, and of the fact that some of the Regulations of 1954 relate to provisions of previous Acts which are now spent and have not been re-enacted in the Act of 1962, it is desirable to consolidate the remaining Regulations of 1954 by reproducing them in terms of the Act. This is the purpose of the Instrument which is now before the House for approval.
The operation of the provisions of the Regulations of 1954 not replaced is preserved for appropriate cases by the transitional provision of Schedule 14 to the Act, and that will be found in Regulation 2 of this Instrument. The Instrument does not make any changes of substance in the provisions of the Regulations of 1954 which it reproduces. The only new matter which is introduced is in Regulation 4(b) where slight modifications are applied to provisions first introduced into the old legislation by Part II of the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act, 1960. The modifications are consequential on the modifications made in relation to enforcement notices in the regulations of 1954 and do not amount to changes of substance.
1380 The subject matter of the Regulations is complex. It was, however, fully considered by this House on December 16, 1954, when approval was given to the Regulations of that year. In these circumstances, it is perhaps unnecessary to trouble your Lordships with a detailed explanation of the, content of particular Regulations. When the Regulations are issued, however, they will be accompanied by a circular outlining the circumstances in which they have been made and giving explanatory notes on their contents. The present Instrument is not controversial and, in the opinion of the Special Orders Committee of your Lordships' House, can be passed without special attention". Therefore, I hope that your Lordships will now approve these Regulations, and I apologise for their rather complicated nature and the necessity for mentioning so many different Acts during the course of my comments. I beg to move.

§ LORD SILKIN
My Lords, I do not intend to be in the least controversial about this matter. I am taking it from the noble Lord that this is purely a piece of consolidation and consequential on the changes in the law, and involves no change at all of substance in the contents of the Regulations. On that assurance, by all means let the Regulations go through.

§ LORD HASTINGS
That is quite correct.