Motion summary
It was moved by the Viscount Astor, in Schedule 4, page 96, line 9, at end to insert: “(2A) The Office of Rail Regulation shall not be entitled to make a determination under paragraph 1G(2) which is likely to lead to the services provided with the use or in respect of any railway facility being curtailed or discontinued (whether as to quality, time or in any other respect) unless the requirements of paragraph 1(G)(2B) have been complied with and the conditions in paragraph 1G(2C) have been satisfied. (2B) The requirements are that the Office of Rail Regulation has consulted— (a) the facility owner and the beneficiaries of all access contracts in respect of the railway facility in question; and (b) the franchisee under every franchise agreement which contemplates the franchisee, or any person on its behalf, using the railway facility in question, and has taken into consideration all representations and objections made to it by those persons in respect of the proposed determination. (2C) The Office of Rail Regulation may not make a determination under paragraph 1G(2) unless it is satisfied that— (a) the value of the rights of such facility owner and the beneficiaries under or in respect of that railway facility or those access contracts shall not be adversely affected by the proposed determination, or that adequate financial compensation shall be payable to them out of public financial resources in respect of any such adverse effect; and (b) in the case of a franchise agreement, the agreement shall be amended so as to relieve the franchisee from the obligation to comply with its terms to the extent that, if the agreement were not amended, compliance would be impossible or more onerous by reason of the proposed determination. (2D) If the Office of Rail Regulation fails to make a determination under paragraph 1G(2) by reason of one or both of the considerations specified in paragraph 1G(2C), the Secretary of State or Scottish ministers as appropriate shall ensure that public financial resources shall be increased accordingly.”; which being objected to, the question was put thereupon, and