>: I beg to move Amendment No. 176, in page 99, line 32, to leave out subsection (1).

This Clause deals with the compulsory purchase of land by the Scottish Special Housing Association. This matter was raised in Committee by two of my hon. Friends who, I regret, are not in their places at the moment. I hope that they will soon take their seats and contribute to the debate.

One is in some doubt why this power should be given to the Scottish Special Housing Association at all. By subsection (1), the Association will have powers for the compulsory purchase of land where the local authority is unwilling to acquire land for S.S.H.A. purposes. It was very difficult for some of us in Committee to understand why this power should be required. If I remember correctly, we were told that there might be circumstances in which the S.S.H.A. would wish to acquire land in which the local authority would have no interest at all. But the S.S.H.A. builds houses on behalf of the local authority. The houses are allocated by the local authority from the local authority's housing list, and the fact that the houses are built by the Association is of certain financial benefit to the local authority.

One therefore finds it very difficult to believe that there will be circumstances in which the local authority will not be interested in the purchase of land and the building of houses by the S.S.H.A., yet the Government seem to envisage circumstances in which, despite this very close interest, one might almost call it a vested interest, of the local authority in the purchase of the land, the local authority is unwilling to acquire it and for that reason the S.S.H.A. is given compulsory powers of acquisition.

Some of us feel that if there is a dispute between the Association and the local authority over a particular piece of land, there must be a very special reason for that dispute; and that, in particular, there must be a very special reason why the local authority is not willing to acquire land for the purposes of the S.S.H.A. We cannot see that in such circumstances it would be just all right to give the S.S.H.A. the power to acquire land on its own behalf. The Association is very willing to serve local authorities, and one ventures no criticism of it when one says that in such circumstances the rights, feelings and views of the local authority should have priority.

I am, and always have been, a staunch supporter of the S.S.H.A., and would like to see its activities extended, but I cannot believe that in a dispute between it and the local authority about the acquisition of any land it can be right to do other than let the view of the local authority prevail. In those circumstances, I find it very difficult to see why we need this subsection, and I hope that, at the very least, the Under-Secretary will be able to clarify the issues.