§ Mr. Corbettasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he remains satisfied that the first transfers of housing and related assets in new towns to district councils can take place on 1st April 1977.
§ Mr. John SilkinIt had been the Government's firm intention to enact the New Towns (Amendment) Bill before the Summer Recess in order that a genuine opportunity would exist to achieve the first transfers of housing and related assets in the new towns to district councils on 1st April 1977. The Conservative Opposition decided at the final stages of consideration of the Bill in the House of Lords to carry to a Division amendments to the Bill which they knew were defective as well as unacceptable to the Government. It is the firm intention of the Government to remove them when the Bill as amended is again considered in896W the House of Commons. The Parliamentary timetable and procedures dictate, as the Conservative Opposition well knows, that the necessary action to restore the Bill to an acceptable form cannot be completed until near the end of the present Session. The relatively complex procedures which flow from the provisions of the Bill for statutory consultations and directions as to the making of transfer schemes, the need to adopt reasonable safeguards for the staff affected by such schemes and the fact that it has been found necessary to avoid the financial complications of transfer in part financial years, all lead to the inevitable conclusion that the first transfers of housing cannot now take place before 1st April 1978.