Clause 73 - Compulsory acquisition of land for development etc
Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill
10:15 am
Mrs Barbara Roche (Minister of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister; Hornsey and Wood Green, Labour)
I shall break my habit of rising only once in order to deal with a couple of points. I cannot resist Crichel Down—I have a dim memory of doing an entrance paper that involved a reference to it, but I do not want to dwell on it because it involved ministerial resignations.
Subsection (4) provides for the omission of section 226(2) of the 1990 Act, which currently specifies matters that the local authority and the Secretary of State have to consider when determining whether land is suitable for development, redevelopment or improvement. However, it will not be necessary as a result of replacing the requirement to show that the land to be acquired is suitable for the acquiring authority's intended purposes with a clear statement of the purposes for which the authority will in future be able to exercise compulsory purchase powers provided under the 1990 Act. We have substituted one for the other.
The simplification of the provision has been welcomed by a large number of local authorities, which clearly see it as something that can be used in appropriate circumstances to deal with matters such as regeneration, which can enhance their communities.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 73 ordered to stand part of the Bill.