New clause 3
Planning and Compulsory Purchase (Re-committed) Bill
3:45 pm
Mr Andrew Turner (Isle of Wight, Conservative)
I am most grateful for that and shall try not to detain the Committee for too long by narrating the nature of what I have to show, but I shall give another example from a conservation area.
I am holding up a picture of an approach to a village on which hon. Members can again see a large number of road signs, but also a suburban footpath. Pavements are provided for good reasons, but they can be provided in an urban manner or in a rural manner. It is appropriate that on the approach to a village a pavement should be provided in a rural manner, not an urban manner.
I have discussed some of those issues with the planners and engineers in my constituency, because in Cowes, where I lived until quite recently, Union road and Church road have recently attracted a residents' parking scheme. Initially there were four posts, each 4 ft high—I imagine that Hansard does not convey hand signals either, but hon. Members can imagine what those posts looked like—with signs on them that were something like 1 ft by 9 in , along with other signs of a similar dimension, fixed to the wall. Those fittings have been replaced by 11 posts that are 7 ft high, with signs on them that are something like 18 in by 8 in, in a very small area indeed—certainly smaller than the width of the river outside the Windows here.
To be fair, that example is not in a conservation area, but on the border of one. However, anyone who walks through a town or city can see the damage done by ill-considered bus shelters, litter bins, bicycle racks and signs of all description, some of which the local highways authority have erected and others that the Highways Agency has no doubt erected. Many comply with all sorts of regulations that are provided in detail by Ministers from another Department.
Such features spoil the effect and look of areas of high environmental value, which we have a responsibility to protect. That is the purpose of the new clause, which is simple and will, I hope, benefit those areas where the highways authority is one council and the planning authority is another. I am
fortunate that we have a unitary council on the Isle of Wight, although I do not say that that is the solution for all areas, because it is probably wrong for shire counties. Despite that, I can see that we have some advantage in my constituency in that highways and planning are nearer together than they would be were they in two different authorities. However, although there is scope for them to work together, they do not always do so, even within a single authority.