HC Deb 08 December 1975 vol 902 c41W
Mr. Michael Latham

asked the Lord President of the Council (1) whether he will give details of the proposed supervisory powers of the Welsh Assembly over the operation of the Community Land Act 1975; and whether he will give an assurance that he will propose no legislation by which either the Secretary of State or the Assembly could give directions to the Land Authority for Wales to acquire individual pieces of land, and the authority could then in its turn delegate these functions on an agency basis to local authorities, thus adding another tier of Government to the process of land acquisition;

(2) whether he will give details of the proposed supervisory powers of the Scottish Executive over the operation of town and country planning appeals; and whether he will give an assurance that he will propose no legislation by which both the Secretary of State and the Executive could assume the powers of direction over local authorities contained in the Act.

Mr. Edward Short

How the provisisions of the Community Land Act 1975 are to be treated is a matter of detail to be settled in the course of preparing the devolution legislation; but I envisage that the major financial aspects of the scheme and powers to control the overall pace of implementation will not be devolved and that otherwise responsibility will in the main be transferred. This will not add another tier of government to the administration of the community land scheme.