Council Tax (New Valuation Lists for England) Bill

My hon. Friend raised that with me privately earlier. I should like to research the point further. I hesitate to contradict somebody as knowledgeable as my hon. Friend. He may well be right. A fifth reason for ordering revaluations in a particular local authority is that a large number of properties are bought and sold. A property can be revalued if its original value is severely out of kilter with its price when it is bought and sold. In the south of England, for example, many more properties are bought and sold in an individual billing authority than in some of the more northern authorities. Those are some of the reasons for revaluations. I should like the Minister to tell us why he would want to order an individual billing authority to undertake a revaluation. What about the distortion that would cause between one authority and its neighbouring authorities? My hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Mr. Chope) has mentioned that his constituency contains two billing authorities. My constituency also contains two billing authorities: Cotswold district council, where property prices tend to go up very quickly—the rate of growth is probably one of the highest in the United Kingdom—and Stroud district council, where property prices are not increasing so quickly. Under the amendment—this is why I am going to vote against it—the Secretary of State might order a revaluation for the Cotswold area, but not for the Stroud area. In those circumstances, what would happen to properties on the border? What would happen to people who live in Cotswold and who have low-paid jobs in Stroud? All sorts of distortions could emerge.