New clause 18 - Procedure for authorisation of compulsory purchase by authority other than a Minister
Planning and Compulsory Purchase (Re-committed) Bill
9:10 am
Ms Yvette Cooper (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister; Pontefract and Castleford, Labour)
That is picked up in new clause 20, which we will come to shortly. Obviously, the acquiring authorities must do everything they can to identify all who may have a stake or interest in the matter. However, the purpose of this new clause, and the issue here, is that in cases where there are people whom it would simply not be reasonable to expect the acquiring authority to identify or reach beforehand, we must ensure that the acquiring authority is obliged to fix an appropriate notice on the site, thereby publishing the order on or near the land.
That provision attempts to deal with people who have disputed right of access or who claim to have private right of way across the land, but whose claims may not be obviously apparent to the acquiring authority in the first instant. The acquiring authority will be required to display an appropriate notice at the time of confirmation. The new requirement for site notices is in addition to the current requirements to serve notices on all those whom the acquiring authority has been able to identify as having appropriate interest in the land included in the order and to place statutory notices in local newspapers.