HC Deb 23 January 1970 vol 794 cc214-5W
Mr. Stainton

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government (1) whether he will review the procedures of the Advance Payments Code under the Highways Act, 1959, with a view to improving the efficiency of this protection to house buyers;

(2) which appropriate authorities in the East Anglia Economic Planning Region have not applied to him and obtained an Order to operate the Advance Payments Code under the Highways Act, 1959;

(3) whether, in view of the increasing role of landscaping and similar amenities in private housing schemes, and default by developers, he will take steps to extend the provisions of the Advance Payments Code under the Highways Act, 1959, from roads and verges.

Mr. Skeffington

Where the Advance Payments Code has been applied it should provide effective protection for house buyers. Applications have not been made to my right hon. Friend by the Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely County Council and the Huntingdon and Peterborough County Councils for Orders to apply the code to rural districts in their areas. Otherwise the code now operates throughout the East Anglia Economic Planning Region.

It would be inappropriate to extend the provisions of the Advance Payments Code to landscaping and amenity works, since local authorities have no general powers to charge frontagers for such works. They can, however, be included in any agreement for the construction of streets made between developers and local authorities under Section 40 of the Highways Act, 1959.