New Clause A — (Modification of development plans in relation to land designated as subject to compulsory acquisition.)

Part of Orders of the Day — Town and Country Planning Bill – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 1 August 1947.

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Photo of Mr Charles Williams Mr Charles Williams , Torquay 12:00, 1 August 1947

The right hon. Gentleman said in his reply that if we had wished to be logical we should have put down an Amendment to secure that the land should never be designated again. That would not really be practicable, for the reason that there would then be certain portions of land after 12½ years that could not be designated in the future. That is not our purpose. The real purpose of the Amendment is that we should not apply a sort of "Cat-and-Mouse" Act to the owner and occupier of the land. At the end of the 12½ years it would be possible to begin the whole designation process right over again, in exactly the same way as letting a man out of prison and then sending him back next morning. It would handicap the development of the land to treat it in that way.

Let me give a simple and clear illustration. Suppose there is a co-operative society, with a farm very near to a town, developing that farm to serve the society's shops. For 12½ years they have been uncertain how far they could develop but, at the end of that time, if our Amendment is not accepted that land is able to be designated again almost at once. Surely, it would be better to give the society a period of grace during which the land could not be designated again? I would not say that the land must never be re-designated. Surely, we might say to the co-operative society, "You have five years' grace in which you can go on and make your developments." I could extend this illustration to other sections of the community. On occasions such as this the Minister has been rather hard. I appeal to him to believe that we are trying to be fair to the man as well as to make the Bill work, and not to leave in the Bill something which is reminiscent of the "Cat-and-Mouse" Act.