§ 81. Mr. Awberyasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he is aware of the injustices inflicted upon owner tenants, who have invested their life savings in their houses and have kept them in good repair, when compulsory purchase orders and clearance orders are made, because of the inadequacy of compensation; and if he will ensure that forthcoming legislation includes provisions to give increased reparation to this class of tenant.
§ Mr. H. BrookeThe hon. Member will by now have had opportunity to study the new Town and Country Planning Bill. It provides that owners of houses to be acquired at site value because they are unfit for human habitation will receive the market value of the cleared site; and that those owner-occupiers and business occupiers who are already entitled to the full compulsory purchase value of their interest as a result of the changes introduced in the Slum Clearance (Compensation) Act, 1956, will receive the market value of their interest.
No alteration is proposed in the system or amount of the payments which are awarded because a house in spite of its inherent defects has been well maintained, since these payments were trebled as recently as 1956.