Clause 19
Housing and Regeneration Bill
5:00 pm
Iain Wright (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Communities and Local Government; Hartlepool, Labour)
The hon. Gentleman was extremely helpful. He expressed the amendments in a characteristically thoughtful and sensitive manner, which helped me to sense where his main concerns lie. However, he may have overlooked the proper statutory context of the power.
Clause 19 sets out a power that relates to the process of acquiring land under clause 9, whether those purchases are made by agreement or in exercise of the agency’s compulsory purchase powers. The hon. Gentleman I think recognises that the clause has a strictly practical purpose. Yes, it allows an authorised person to enter a person’s land, but the wording makes it clear that the power arises only in connection with a proposal by the agency to acquire land.
There are only two reasons for which the agency is empowered to enter a person’s land—first, to carry out a survey; and secondly, to value land to assess the amount of compensation to be paid. The clause also authorises entry on to someone’s land in connection with a proposal by the agency to acquire some other person’s land, but that is simply a practical point. It may be necessary for a surveyor to assess a party wall or to access land. Soil surveys will be essential if accurate valuations of contaminated land are to be made, and the hon. Gentleman will be aware that clean-up costs can vary depending on what substances are found.
The amendments seek to limit a necessary power, and I shall respond to each in turn. In general, however, I assure the hon. Gentleman that the power simply enables those same procedural elements that take place in every normal private sale to take place in the statutory context.