§ Mr. Alan HowarthTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will seek to amend the Planning and Compensation Act 1991 to extend compensation payable under it to mobile home owners affected by motorways completed in the last 10 years.
§ Mr. BaldryUnder a provision inserted by the Planning and Compensation Act 1991, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport intends later this year to make regulations enabling highway authorities to make payments to the owners of mobile homes which are affected by a specified level of noise arising from the construction or use of new or altered roads. The powers 537W apply only to cases where the works giving rise to noise came into use no earlier than 12 months before commencement of the provision. The regulations which my right hon. Friend proposes to make will accordingly apply to new or altered road schemes which first came into use on or after 25 September 1990. We are not persuaded of the case for any extension in the scope of the powers.