HL Deb 11 November 1970 vol 312 cc755-6

3.52 p.m.

THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE, DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT (LORD SANDFORD)

My Lords, if it is convenient to the House, I should like to intervene now to repeat a Statement which is being made by my right honourable friend in another place, in response to a Question. His Statement says:

"I regret to inform the House that through a most unfortunate oversight the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning Authorities in Greater London) Regulations made in 1965 and 1967 were not at that time laid before Parliament before coming into operation, as required by the enabling legislation.

"These Regulations, which govern the division of responsibility for development control between the G.L.C. and the London Borough Councils, were laid yesterday in their original form.

"I am to-day introducing an Indemnity Bill to deal with the legal consequences of the failure to lay the Regulations. There is the further complication that the Town and Country Planning Act 1968 prospectively repeals, also by oversight, the requirement to lay these Regulations before Parliament, though no day has been appointed for the coming into force of this repeal. It is clearly right that Regulations of this importance should be subject to Negative Resolution in both Houses. This point is also put right in the Indemnity Bill."

LORD SHEPHERD

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Sandford. I gather that this is not the first occasion on which Parliament has found itself in some difficulty as a consequence of the complexity of Statutory Instruments—those that should be laid and those that should not be. Clearly this is a question of an oversight by a Department which we know is heavily involved in the use of Statutory Instruments. On behalf of my noble friends, and I think the House, I should like to express gratitude to the Government for the way in which this matter is being treated. Certainly when the Bill comes before this House I think I can assure the Minister that he will have no difficulty in getting it through.