Schedule 4 - Compulsory purchase and entry for
Communications Bill
6:00 pm
Mr Stephen Timms (Minister of State (e-Commerce & Competitiveness), Department of Trade and Industry; East Ham, Labour)
As the hon. Member for Ryedale acknowledged, the powers under schedule 4 are provided to code operators under the terms of the 1984 Act. He asked specifically how often those powers have been used. In fact, they have never been used in the 19 years since then. There is an understandable view, however, that they are necessary as a back-stop and underline the powers of operators to reach agreement with landowners on a commercial basis. Paragraphs 1 to 5 of the schedule set out how the powers operate within England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The rationale for including such powers under the 1984 Act is to cover an operator who is under an obligation to provide a service. For example, 3G mobile licences oblige operators to cover 80 per cent. of the population by 2007. When such an obligation is imposed on an operator, we need to make sure that the operator has the means to meet it. In the example that I cited, a mobile operator may need to place a mast within a particular location and, without at least the possibility of calling on a power of the sort set out under schedule 4, may not be able to gain agreement from the landowner. It is on that basis that I suggest to the Committee that we need the powers set out in the schedule.
The hon. Gentleman asked specifically about human rights. I put it to him that there is a balance between the rights of individual landowners and of wider society. The way in which we framed the Bill gets that balance just about right.
Question put and agreed to.
Schedule 4 agreed to.
Clause 115 ordered to stand part of the Bill.