§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he will take to ensure that local authorities, in accordance with the intent of Section 26 of Circular 15/69 (Ministry of Housing and Local Government), deal sympathetically with compulsory purchase order cases where blight is caused either by informal plans for redevelopment or by the early stages of consideration of formal proposals before they have reached the stage at which an owner can demonstrate that he qualifies to serve a blight notice.
§ Mr. Graham PageI have no evidence that local authorities are disregarding the advice given in Circular 15/69 as to the purchasing of blighted property where there is a genuine hardship but no obligation to purchase. Having regard to that and to the Circular 46/70 which dealt with the purchase in a specified range of cases without requiring proof of hardship, I do not think any more general exhortation is necessary.