Clause 77 - Loss payments: supplementary
Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill
4:00 pm
Mr David Wilshire (Spelthorne, Conservative)
I rise for two reasons. First, I have some important issues to raise and, secondly, I want to show that on this side of the Committee we sometimes sing from the same hymn sheet. I am in entire agreement with my hon. Friend, who entirely agrees with me, so we are back on track. The amendments are straightforward and I live in hope that the Minister will accept them. It is the last occasion on which the Government can put me out of my misery and frustration and give me something before the Bill finishes its Committee stage.
It is tempting, in debating compensation and compulsory purchase, to see major landowners and big projects at the heart of the whole process. However, as the Minister knows, it is possible for small amounts of land and individuals of no great wealth to be involved in road improvements, for example. For such people, the process can be worrying and financially stressful, especially when it goes on for a long time. Advance payments are right when it is clear that real value is at stake. I hope that the Minister will confirm that one of the criteria for deciding whether to make advance payments is that the person whose land is being confiscated is unlikely to be able to sustain the losses. It is all about the individual with a capital ''I'', someone whose land is being confiscated by a big bureaucracy, which can be threatening.
Additional payment should be made at the end of the process. It may be relatively small—perhaps a few hundred pounds—but that is not the point. The smaller the amount left over, the more likely it is to be important to an individual, as opposed to a big consortium or big company, for which even a few tens of thousands of pounds may not be necessary for a few days. We know what bureaucracy is like, and many of us have been deeply frustrated trying to extract from officialdom moneys to which we are entitled.
The amendment is eminently reasonable when there is no dispute that, after long discussions, perhaps going into appeal, additional amounts are owed. I see no reason why any sensible person would oppose the
notion that, having reached the point where it is finally established that some money is owed, it should be paid within 21 days. Interest while one waits is not the point. The provisions will affect many people who need the extra money, and it is important for them to know that they will receive it within 21 days. I shall be amazed if the Government argue against that.
Amendment No. 443 deals with interest payments. Again, it is understandable why most people think in terms of businesses, farmers and property owners being owed money on which interest is payable. It may be accepted that we will not get round to paying it for 12 or six months, and it really will not matter because it is a relatively small amount of interest on a modest sum. However, it is again possible that many people caught in this process are of more modest means and need an income of some sort, particularly if the compulsory purchase powers are depriving them of a source of income. That can easily happen if land or property from which an income is derived is taken away. If money is owed, it is not unreasonable to say that that interest will be paid monthly. No one is disputing that that money is owed; it is not an attempt to get money to which someone is not entitled out of the Government or a local authority. In my dealings with various organisations, I have come across many examples of people using any excuse not to pay today. It would therefore be helpful to make it clear that when interest is payable, we mean that it is payable monthly, rather than annually or when it suits someone's purpose.
I believe that both amendments are reasonable. They do not undermine anything that the Government seek to do, but give reassurance to the individual who is caught up in the process. I look forward to the Minister saying that she believes the amendments to be sensible, and that she agrees with them.