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Clause 29—(Removal Of Works And Restoration Of Land)

Volume 411: debated on Wednesday 30 May 1945

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I beg to move, in page 24, line 7, after "land," insert:

"or where the value of any land has been diminished by damage caused by Government war use thereof."
This Amendment and the next two standing in the name of my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer originated with my hon. Friend the Member for Thirsk and Malton (Mr. Turton). Clause 29 gives the Minister powers to remove works constructed on land, and to do such other work on land for the purpose of restoring the land as he thinks fit, and he can also, in order to carry out those two purposes, enter upon any other land of which he is not in possession. But the Minister's powers under Clause 29 are limited to the case in which Government war work has been done on the land. My hon. Friends desire to extend the powers of the Minister to a further class of case, which is, where the value of any land has been diminished by damage caused by Government war use. We think this Amendment is a good one. It increases the powers of the Executive, and I would like to congratulate my hon. Friend and his colleagues on appreciating, perhaps rather late in the day, the beneficent character of this Measure.

I am grateful to the Government for having accepted these words. It is quite true that when the Chancellor first introduced this Bill I should never have trusted him with the powers of restoring land up and down the country, but we have made it our object in the whole of the fight on this Bill to see that the land of Britain is restored, whether it has been damaged or ravaged by the war. This is a great opportunity which I hope Government Departments will use, where land has been damaged by war use. One can think of training grounds, bomb damage—[Interruption.] Open-cast coal is a case where the Government have already acted, I believe not with full powers. This will give them legal justification for so acting.

I hope that now the Government have accepted this principle, they will instruct all Government Departments to restore the damage they have created up and down Britain.

Amendment agreed to.

Further Amendments made: In page 24, line 15, leave out from "before," to "to," in line 16, and insert:

"the work was done or the damage was caused."

In line 16, leave out "other."—[ Sir J. Anderson.]

6.0 p.m.

I beg to move, in page 24, line 16, after "as," insert:

"after obtaining the opinion of the Minister of Town and Country Planning as to the general measures considered by him desirable for the restoration of land in that district."
The House will remember that when we discussed this matter earlier the Chancellor of the Exchequer gave an assurance that in cases of restoration by a Government Department the regional planning officer of the Ministry of Town and Country Planning would be consulted. This was so valuable an assurance that we felt that we would like to have it in the Bill; not that we distrust the Chancellor, but because we think that the attention of Departments may not have been drawn to it, especially in view of the changes in the Government. It is valuable for each Government Department to be able to see that they should consult the regional planning officers, who have a considerable position in the country, before they deal with works of restoration. I would ask the Chancellor to consider very carefully whether he could insert these words, which have the approval of such bodies as the Council for the Preservation of Rural England.

It is true that I gave the assurance to which my hon. Friend has referred, and I do not in any way recede from what I said; but, as to putting words into the Bill to impose upon Ministers who may be primarily concerned in proceedings under the Bill a statutory duty of consulting with specified colleagues, I see very great objection in principle. The Government cannot carry on its business in the complex situation with which we have to deal unless there is continual consultation between Minister and Minister, and it is wrong, I respectfully submit, to try to provide for such consultations in particular cases by specifying statutory requirements, which would be quite unenforceable, which would add nothing to the general duty—which, indeed, would tend to subtract from the general obligation—of Ministers at all points to consult those of their colleagues who may be concerned. We have inserted in this Bill, in order to reassure hon. Members, provisions requiring the intervention of particular Ministers where specific obligations of such Ministers in relation to proceedings under this Bill could be defined. We have provided, for example, for certificates by the President of the Board of Trade and the Minister of Town and Country Planning in certain circumstances. But it is quite a different matter to provide by specific statutory words for mere consultation. I hope, therefore, that my hon. Friends will agree not to press this Amendment.

In view of the fact that my right hon. Friend has repeated the assurance, which I am sure will be read by all the new Ministers, I beg leave to withdraw the Amendment.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.