New clause 3
Planning and Compulsory Purchase (Re-committed) Bill
3:45 pm
Mr Andrew Turner (Isle of Wight, Conservative)
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
New clause 3 is about areas of high environmental value. I am pleased to say that the issue is slightly less technical than the matters that were discussed in relation to the previous two proposed new clauses. It is almost a matter of aesthetic judgment. However, the aesthetic judgment of planners, and of the population in general, is not shared as frequently as we should like by highway engineers. Highway engineers are not the only people whom I target here, but they are among the principal despoilers of the countryside—and of urban areas as well. I am indebted to the CPRE, now the Campaign to Protect Rural England, for its booklet on the cluttered countryside. It illustrates the kind of damage that can be done not only to the countryside but to villages and towns by ill-considered development that is not counted as development for the purposes of planning legislation. My purpose is to bring within the ambit of that legislation road signs and street furniture, including street lighting, in areas of high environmental value, as defined in subsection 2 of the proposed new clause.
As an example, Isle of Wight council is considering a number of applications for Tetra masts, some of which are approved under the general development order. Such masts are different from conventional telephone masts, and have different scientific properties. However, at the moment they are allowed under the general development order and can be put in
an area in which there is already a mast without any further permission.
I have here an illustration of the approach along the A303 road, west of Amesbury, in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Salisbury (Mr. Key), to a world heritage site, Stonehenge. It is one of the few such sites in this country, yet some 30 road signs are visible to the motorist along the approach to Stonehenge on that route. I could name another example: the turning off the A303 from Andover for Salisbury. I am pleased to say that we do not have that many road signs in the Isle of Wight because there are not that many places to go, so this is not a complaint about my local highway engineers. Indeed, it is hard to get lost, because if one goes far enough one gets to the sea.
Another problem—