Orders of the Day — Land Commission Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 31 January 1966.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mr Frederick Willey Mr Frederick Willey , Sunderland North 12:00, 31 January 1966

This is an unfair juxtaposition. The hon. Gentleman has called in the usual provisions of statutory limitations. One has to define this in the case of development. This has attracted some attention amongst professional organisations, and there may be more discussion in Standing Committee. One has to define development for the purposes of it being identified and assessed for levy. Following this point dealing with the assessment of the levy there is ample opportunity for representations to be considered and, if necessary, for formal objections to be made to the Lands Tribunal and recourse to the courts. On the other side of the coin there is the Commissioners' discretion to postpone the payment of the levy or to accept instalments if it is appropriate.

The White Paper announced certain exemptions from the levy—for single dwelling houses built for a member of the owner's family on land acquired before the publication of the White Paper; for builders and developers of houses in respect of land with planning permission when they were owned or held under a contract to buy at the time of the White Paper; for local authorities in respect of all land except land held for commercial purposes, for functional and permanent endowment land, for charities, and for operational land of statutory undertakers. All these exempttions are dealt with in Clauses 55 to 62. The Bill goes further than the White Paper in exempting all local authority land and providing for an exemption from the levy of certain transactions of housing associations.

Further exemptions can be provided for by order. When the Commission buys, it will deduct the levy from the price it pays. Clause 64 provides for this and Clause 63 deals with the payment of levy when land is acquired by bodies other than the Commission with the power of compulsory purchase.

Again, this has attracted some attention but a Bill of this character must provide for sanctions. These are provided in Clauses 72 to 74. This is a complex Bill, and I am driven to the conclusion that any legislation about land is complex. However, praise where praise is due. This Bill is a very competently drafted piece of technically difficult legislation, and with care and attention it is intelligible. What impressed me more than anything else when I first tackled this problem of betterment was the long time during which it has been recognised that something ought to be done, that it was imperative that the problem ought to be tackled. It is a tribute to the strength of the landed class in this country, a strength it still retains and exercises, that such a solution has been delayed and sabotaged for so long.

I have deliberately sought a solution which, apart from politicians with bad consciences, will be generally accepted as fair and equitable. It has been a long struggle. I will conclude as I began by quoting Winston Churchill. It is well over 50 years since he said this to his Edwardian listeners. He was a great Liberal then: Such is the proposal about which so much chatter and outcry are raised at the present time, and upon which I will say that no more fair, considerate or salutary proposal … has ever been made in the House of Commons. In the event, his flamboyant optimism was unjustified and the Tories upset the Liberals, just as they upset what Lord Silkin did. They upset it on their maxim that the speculators' freedom is the highest social good. Our recent experience of private good at public expense, the scandal of land prices which we have endured for the past few years, has convinced most people that the result is intolerable. This time I believe that the solution we seek will be permanent.