My Lords, I shall deal first with the point that the noble Lord, Lord Beecham, has just made. Of course, I have read the report of the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee, and there are three relevant recommendations relating to this Bill, two of which he mentioned. We take this very seriously; we are considering all three recommendations very carefully, and intend to respond before Report, so I hope that the nuclear option mentioned by the noble Lord may not be necessary.
I turn to Amendments 104, 104A and 129B. Clauses 14 to 26 of the Bill set out the broad framework for how the temporary possession power will work, establishing protections and providing for the payment of compensation. Further technical provisions will be necessary for the implementation of the temporary possession power. Clause 24 gives the Secretary of
State the power by regulations to make further provision in relation to the authorisation and exercise of temporary possession powers where necessary. We will respond on that—and in the meantime we set out in the policy document what we proposed to do. There is something there about reinstatement.
On Amendment 104, certain special kinds of land, including land held inalienably by the National Trust, are afforded additional protection under the compulsory acquisition process. This additional protection provides that a compulsory purchase order may be subject to special parliamentary procedure when an objection is sustained to the relevant order by, for example, the National Trust, or when exchange land for that to be acquired cannot be given, perhaps because no suitable land is available. I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, that National Trust land should benefit from additional protection under the temporary possession regime; this is also true of those other special kinds of land. The Government have set out their intention to do precisely that in a policy document; we propose to do that through regulations made under Clause 24. Paragraphs 48 to 51 of that document set out more details.
The Government’s proposed approach under temporary possession differs from that under compulsory acquisition. Where the temporary possession of special kinds of land is happening without any associated compulsory acquisition, the special parliamentary procedure would not apply. Instead, the temporary possession will be allowed only when the confirming authority is satisfied that it would not cause serious detriment to the owners and users. Such serious detriment could include, for example, irreparable damage to the land concerned, or blocking access to other land or assets. When both temporary possession and compulsory acquisition of a special kind of land is included in the same order, and the compulsory acquisition is subject to special parliamentary procedure, the temporary possession land would also be subject to the special parliamentary procedure. However, I have listened with great interest to the case made by the noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, who raises an important issue, and the Government will, therefore, give further careful consideration to it before confirming our approach, to which I have just referred.
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Amendments 104A and 129B tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Beecham, seek to amend Clause 24 concerning the reinstatement of land at the end of the temporary possession period. As he said and as I referred to a moment ago, this has been raised by the DPRRC, which has recommended that Clause 24 should be amended to impose a duty on the Secretary of State and Welsh Ministers to make regulations about the reinstatement of land. We are committed to ensuring that those affected by temporary possession are properly protected and compensated. The reinstatement of land at the end of the temporary possession period is a crucial part of that protection. As I said a moment ago, we take this very seriously. I can reassure the noble Lord that we will give very careful consideration to the recommendations in the DPRRC report on this point.
Finally, I turn to Amendment 129B. This is consequential on Amendment 104A. It seeks to amend Clause 39 to ensure that any regulations made under Clause 24(1) which make provision for reinstatement under the new subsection 2A proposed by Amendment 104A would be subject to the affirmative procedure. I assure the noble Lord that I recognise that the exercise of such a power merits a higher level of parliamentary scrutiny both for its interference with property rights and the public interest in compulsory powers over land. That is why Clause 39(2)(a) already makes provision for any regulations made under the power in Clause 24(1) to be subject to the affirmative procedure.
I hope that with the reassurances I have given and the commitment to consider these matters further, the noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, will agree to withdraw the amendment.