§ 50. Mr. Sorensenasked the Minister of Transport if he is aware of the disturbance caused by the announcement of aggregate amounts allocated or proposed to cover compensation for owners of property or for tenants affected by road developments for which his Department is responsible, which give reason to those concerned to believe that their compensation will be inadequate; and if he is satisfied that adequate preparatory consideration is given before announcements are publicly made, particularly in order to avoid misunderstanding and possibly needless alarm.
§ Mr. HayI assume the hon. Member has in mind what was said at the public inquiry held at Leyton on 17th and 18th May into the proposed Eastern Avenue extension scheme. I regret that the figure of £400,000 was wrongly mentioned as the estimated cost of the land acquisition; this was corrected to £780,000 later in the inquiry. The amount of compensation paid to property owners for land acquired by us for road development is governed by statute and is in no way limited by any estimate that may be given in advance of the cost in relation to any particular project.