§ 3.7 p.m.
§ Lord Murton of LindisfarneMy Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a third time.
Moved, That the Bill be now read a third time.—(Lord Murton of Lindisfarne.)
§ Lord MishconMy Lords, this is a useful Bill and one that one hopes may go through the whole of the parliamentary machinery before the general election. I should like immediately to pay a tribute on behalf of the whole House to the noble Lord, Lord Murton of Lindisfarne, who has piloted this measure through with great skill and with his usual courtesy.
This Bill which was nodded through in another place without one word, except the moving of Motions. There was no question of criticism of the Bill, and no wish to amend it. Your Lordships' House has fulfilled its usual function of revising legislation, and it has done so with consummate skill.
It was only last night that your Lordships' House also found a useful way of exercising its authority. One rejoices that in regard to this measure—and this can be unanimous, whereas my former remark may not be—one can be unanimous about the part that the House has played in this Bill.
I shall be brief, but I should like to refer to the useful revisions that were made in this House at the previous procedural steps in the Bill. We managed to insert into the Bill a provision that the court should not make an order for access where there was such hardship as would seem to the court to be unreasonable for an order to be made. We also put in a very useful provision that registration under the Land Registration Act could take place in regard to 756 applications and access orders. We made provision in this House that compensation should be paid to a householder against whom an access order was made where the place was used for residential purposes and where there was a substantial interference with privacy or indeed with convenience. It was my privilege to be associated, together with other colleagues in your Lordships' House, with those amendments, in regard to which, with his usual kindness, the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor added his assistance when it came to advising the House on the type of amendments that ought to be made.
I have only one other comment to make. In the course of the progress of the Bill many of us expressed the hope that it would not lead automatically to litigation between neighbours. That is not the best way of providing a suitable neighbourly relationship. I remember the noble and learned Lord advising the House that that was not something that one could put into the measure but that one could put it into the procedural rules that would govern court procedures. It may be of use if I echo the hope now that those procedural rules will see to it that, before litigation is started, civilised notices are given by one party to another with an equally civilised opportunity to respond.
It is with pleasure that I associate my colleagues on these Benches with support for the Third Reading of the Bill. I hope, as I said, that it has a speedy passage through Parliament.
§ Lord Mackie of BenshieMy Lords, I too should like to support the Bill. I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Murton of Lindisfarne, and thank the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor for the work that he did on it. But I should like to stress, perhaps more than the noble Lord, Lord Mishcon, that the original purpose will now be fulfilled. Every Member of Parliament has had in his postbag some appalling case of obstruction which has caused misery—lifelong misery in many cases—to people who could not even mend their roof because of the situation. That, I hope, will be put right. Certainly, I hope and trust that the Commons will act exactly as they did before and pass the Bill now without discussion since it has been through the mill of your Lordships' House.
§ The Lord Chancellor (Lord Mackay of Clashfern)My Lords, I should like to thank the noble Lords who mentioned me. I too wish the Bill very well and hope that, with goodwill at the other end of the corridor, it may reach the statute book very quickly. As the noble Lord, Lord Mackie of Benshie, said, it deals with an extremely important problem. The fact that this procedure is available may well produce a degree of neighbourliness that was not always present before and the absence of which gave rise to the problems.
§ Lord Murton of LindisfarneMy Lords, before I ask your Lordships to give the Bill a Third Reading, perhaps I may thank the noble Lord, Lord Mishcon, for his very gracious remarks. He is more than modest because he produced some of the most telling and important amendments. I am grateful also to my noble friend Lord Coleraine for his support and to my 757 noble and learned friend the Lord Chancellor for what he did to encourage me. Going back to the very beginning, I also hope that the Law Commission itself may be encouraged in the hope that the Bill will go through. The measure originated from that august body.
On Question, Bill read a third time.
§ Lord Murton of LindisfarneMy Lords, I beg to move that this Bill do now pass.
Moved, That the Bill do now pass.—(Lord Murton of Lindisfarne.)
On Question, Bill passed, and sent to the Commons.