§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will give an assurance that the regional officers of his Department will intervene to advise two or more local authorities not to make compulsory purchase orders on the same land, as envisaged in paragraph 25 of Department of the Environment Circular 23/76.
§ Mr. John SilkinNo. In the unlikely event of two authorities being unable themselves to resolve their competing claims for the same land it would be necessary to avoid prejudicing the Secretary of State's consideration of a compulsory purchase order and of any objections to it.
§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will give further guidance to local authorities beyond that contained in paragraph 18 of Department of the Environment Circular 23/76, to the effect that local authorities should take every 143W possible step to avoid serving protective notices to acquire land because they have failed to reach a decision within eight weeks.
§ Mr. John SilkinI do not consider further guidance is necessary.
§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will give further details, beyond those contained in paragraph 7 of Department of the Environment Circular 23/76, of the circumstances in which he would be prepared to approve a compulsory purchase order within five years of a local authority having formally abandoned its powers to make one, in accordance with paragraph 1 of Schedule 7 to the Community Land Act 1975.
§ Mr. John SilkinCases will be considered on their merits. As mentioned in paragraph 38 of Circular 30/76, a possible justification might be that a statutory need had arisen which could not have been foreseen or identified when the authority abandoned its power to purchase.