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New clause 20
Power to require information
'(1) The Acquisition of Land Act 1981 (c.67) is amended as follows.
(2) After section 5 (local inquiries) there is inserted—
''5A Power to require information
(1) This section applies to information about land in relation to which an acquiring authority is entitled to exercise a power of compulsory purchase.
(2) The acquiring authority may serve a notice on a person mentioned in subsection (4) requiring him to give to the authority in writing the following information—
(a) the name and address of any person he believes to be an owner, lessee, tenant (whatever the tenancy period) or occupier of the land,
(b) the name and address of any person he believes to have an interest in the land.
(3) The power in subsection (2) is exercisable for the purpose of enabling the acquiring authority to acquire the land.
(4) The persons are—
(a) the occupier of the land,
(b) any person who has an interest in the land either as freeholder, mortgagee or lessee,
(c) any person who directly or indirectly receives rent for the land,
(d) any person who, in pursuance of an agreement between himself and a person interested in the land, is authorised to manage the land or to arrange for the letting of it.
(5) The notice must specify the period within which the information must be given to the acquiring authority (being a period of not less than 14 days beginning with the day on which the notice is served).
(6) The notice must also specify or describe—
(a) the land,
(b) the compulsory purchase power, and
(c) the enactment which confers the power.
(7) The notice must be in writing.
(8) Section 6(4) does not apply to notices to be served under this section.
5B Offences relating to information
(1) A person commits an offence if he fails without reasonable excuse to comply with a notice served on him under section 5A.
(2) A person commits an offence if, in response to a notice served on him under section 5A—
(a) he gives information which is false in a material particular, and
(b) when he does so, he knows or ought reasonably to know that the information is false.
(3) If an offence under this section committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of—
(a) a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, or
(b) a person purporting to act in any such capacity,
he, as well as the body corporate, is guilty of that offence and liable to be proceeded against accordingly.
(4) The reference in subsection (3) to a director must be construed in accordance with section 331(2) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
(5) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.''.'.—[Keith Hill.]
Brought up, and read the First time.
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The Minister for Housing and Planning (Keith Hill): I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
The Chairman: With this it will be convenient to discuss the following amendment thereto: (a), in proposed new section 5B(3)(a) of the Acquisition of Land Act 1981, after 'secretary', insert 'councillor'.
Keith Hill: We now come to the matter raised by the hon. Member for Cotswold: how information about interest should be acquired. An authority seeking to acquire land needs to know the names and addresses of those occupying and having an interest in that land in order to be able to enter into negotiations to purchase by agreement. It is also necessary to have that information if the authority seeks to acquire the land compulsorily, because it is required to serve notice of the making of the compulsory purchase order on such persons. Correctly ascertaining those interests in the land at an early stage must be fairer for the persons affected. The authority can inform them of its intentions and try to negotiate a purchase by agreement. It saves time if the authority can have confidence in the information that it has gathered, and helps to ensure that the compulsory purchase order is prepared correctly, including serving the appropriate notices on all the right people.
Some acquiring authorities already have powers to require such information. Such powers usually do not extend to requiring information about all interests in land. In view of the extended categories of persons to be served with notice of the making of the CPO under new clause 18, which we have already discussed and included in the Bill, such powers may be inadequate. Other acquiring authorities, including the regional development agencies, the urban regeneration agency—English Partnerships—and urban development corporations, have no such power. Despite the fact that much of the land that they may need to assemble will be on brownfield sites, where ownership and occupation details are likely to be complex, there is no obvious reason for that inconsistency, which can impede the compulsory purchase process.
For completeness, I ought to add that for land in unknown ownership all is not lost. There is a statutory procedure for the service of notices at the making of a CPO under section 6(4) of the Acquisition of Land Act 1981, referred to by the hon. Member for Chipping Barnet (Sir Sydney Chapman). However, before resorting to that procedure, the acquiring authority must first be satisfied that reasonable inquiry has been made and that it is not practicable to ascertain the name and address of an owner, lessee or occupier. Without a statutory power to requisition for information, such an inquiry can cause considerable delay. The amendment therefore introduces a new section into the 1981 Act to enable all acquiring authorities to require information for the purposes of acquiring land or new rights over land in cases where the provisions of that Act apply. That does not mean that land necessarily has to be compulsorily acquired or even acquired by agreement. However, the power to obtain the names and addresses may be exercised only for the purpose of enabling the authority to acquire the land in question.
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The acquiring authorities' notice has to be in writing and must set a deadline for a response, which must also be in writing. The range of people on whom such a notice can be served is limited to the occupiers of that land, any freeholders, mortgagees or lessees, the recipient of rent for the land and anyone who manages the land under an agreement with someone else who has an interest in it. The notice requires details to be provided of anyone whom the recipient believes to be an owner, lessee or occupier of the land, or to have another interest in it. Failure to comply with such a notice without reasonable excuse is to be an offence. It will also be an offence for a person responding to the notice served on him to give information that is false in a material particular that he either knows is false or ought reasonably to know is false.
If either offence is committed by a body corporate with the consent or connivance of certain officers, or is attributable to any neglect on the part of officers of the body corporate, that officer will also be guilty of the offence. Such an officer may be a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer. Both offences are to be summary, with a level 5 fine on the standard scale: currently a maximum of £5,000.
Mr. Turner: On a point of order, Mr. Hurst. May I inquire at what point I should move amendment (a)?
The Chairman: You should speak during the debate on the second reading of the new clause, but if you wish to move the amendment you should do so between the second reading of the clause and its being added to the Bill.
Mr. Clifton-Brown: The Opposition broadly welcome new clause 20. It is essential to acquire accurate and correct information. I note, however, that interestingly, in our previous discussions, the Crown was by and large exempted from providing such information. It is a slight paradox that individuals should be required to provide such information, yet the Crown should not necessarily be so required. I mention that in passing.
The Minister mentioned the Acquisition of Land Act 1981. The provisions of section 6(4) are worded in an interesting way, which the House must have approved, but it is quite ambiguous. It talks about the document being served by addressing it to the
'' 'owner', 'lessee' or 'occupier' of the land (describing it) to which it relates, by delivering to some person on the premises or, if there is no person on the premises to whom it may be delivered''—
this is the interesting bit—
''by affixing it or a copy of it''
on or near the land. Under that provision, someone could drop a copy somewhere on a field, and it might be blown away. The Minister is absolutely right to clarify the position. The document should be well and truly attached in a prominent place. We therefore welcome the clarification proposed in the new clause.
I turn to proposed new section 5B and the matter of corporate offences—a subject that my hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight addresses in amendment (a).
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It seems to me that the whole of subsection (3) could have been amazingly simplified if it had been worded thus: ''Offences under this section by corporations shall be construed to have the same meaning as in section 331 in the principal Act.'' That would have obviated the need for the whole of subsection (3), which largely repeats what is in the principal Act. I am making a minor and gentle criticism of the drafting. I sometimes think that parliamentary draftsmen like to put the maximum number of words on a page; I think that they should be paid for using the fewest words needed to achieve the desired result.
I must say to my hon. Friend that having looked at the subsection I see no need for amendment (a), because the subsection deals with corporate offences. I do not think that elected authorities come into that category, and I am not sure that my hon. Friend's amendment is relevant. However, he will make his own case for it.
The Opposition welcome the new clause. It forms part of the compensation package, which we welcome.
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