Clause 2 — (Refusal and postponement of interim development applications.)

Part of Ways and Means – in the House of Commons at on 25 May 1943.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mr Henry Strauss Mr Henry Strauss , Norwich

The reason why my right hon. Friend is unable to accept the Amendment is largely the reason which was admittedly in the mind of my hon. Friend the Member for Faversham (Sir A. Maitland), who moved it. This would be retrospective legislation. Hon. Members have spoken as though any applicant whose application was rejected had no right to proceed with the development of his land. That was not so. He had every right to do it. He had a clear right and a definite legal right to do it. The only thing was that he ran the risk—not the certainty—that, if eventually when that scheme came into operation the building he put up was deemed to be a contravention of the scheme, he was under the liability to remove it without compensation. But if he chose to take that risk, he had every right to do it. It would be, in the view of my right hon. Friend, a rather serious thing to start retrospective legislation of this kind and to say, "Notwithstanding the fact that what you did was perfectly legal under the existing law, we are, nevertheless, going to treat it exactly as we should treat it if the law had been something quite different." The objection which the Committee has so ofen shown to retrospective legislation would apply in this case if we had taken that action.

Let me point out one perhaps slightly technical matter, which has not been mentioned by any of those who have taken part in this short discussion, but which has some application to what we are considering. Until the Act of 1932 was passed, there was no general power for planning authorities to prepare schemes for built areas. Planning authorities in a number of places did, nevertheless, pass resolutions for built areas which would have been "in force" for the purposes of the present Clause. The Minister of Health, in approving "preliminary statements" which formed part of the procedure before 1932, excluded such areas, and for practical purposes the resolution was dead, and, accordingly, much development was carried out without formal permission under the interim development order, because in view of the exclusion from the preliminary statement the local authorities told developers that application for permission was unnecessary. In law, however, the resolution is still in force, and, accordingly, although for the reasons stated, the development was carried out in all innocence, the development would be penalised if this Amendment were carried. I advise the Committee to reject the Amendment, but perhaps my hon. Friend the Member for Faversham, in all the circumstances, may wish to withdraw it.

Before I sit down I should like to mention one possible case which some Members of the Committee may have in mind and where they think great injury might be done unless we had something of this kind. There may possibly be a case where somebody is using a piece of land to dump refuse in and is continuing that without any permission. Obviously, no one wants anyone to continue to use land or further lands for dumping refuse, if it is a continuing nuisance and permission had been refused. There might be some legal question whether that could or could not be stopped under the Clause as it stands without any Amendment. The Committee will agree that if there is any doubt, it ought to be set at rest, and, in asking my hon. Friend to withdraw the Amendment, I will give an undertaking that that latter class of case that I have mentioned will be looked into, and if it is thought that it is doubtful whether we could stop such an action under the Clause as it now stands, an appropriate Amendment will be moved by the Government in another place.