Clause 21 - Form, contents and effect of licences
Water Bill [Lords]
2:45 pm
Mr Robert Key (Salisbury, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 164, in
clause 21, page 24, line 7, at end insert—
'(2A) At the end of subsection (2) there is inserted—
''(c) provision for ensuring public access to information about the quantities of water referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b).''.'.
The amendment is designed to change section 46 of the Water Resources Act 1991. It would provide that every licence required publication of the quantity of water to be abstracted.
I should like to explain why I decided to table the amendment. My admiration for the military runs deep. In my time as the Member of Parliament for Salisbury, I have known about eight or nine Secretaries of State for Defence, four times as many Ministers of State and 10 times as many Under-Secretaries. I have dealt with them all about the estates of Salisbury plain. I must make it clear that I am full of admiration, not only for the MOD's guardianship of its land, but for the progress made on defence estates. Conforming to strict regulations, the MOD has made changes that relate not to military occupation of the land, but to looking after land properly on the community's behalf.
The Minister said that he does not want Crown immunity used, but he recognises that on grounds of national security it might be appropriate not to reveal some information. My hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr. Swire) said that the MOD should decide what to disclose, which is fine up to the point at which it has to justify that decision. The MOD's natural stance is not to tell anybody anything if it can avoid it, and I understand that—it is not a bad rule of thumb. However, there are sometimes turf wars among Departments and their interests in the Salisbury Plain—or any other—training area, and among local people, parish, district and county councils, and the military.
The situation depends who is the current commandant of the Salisbury Plain training area and on how tough they are about the enforcement of public access to footpaths, bridleways and so on. At the moment, we have a tough regime, but at other times it has been not so tough. The Army always does its best to give maximum access for recreational activity, whether that is for hawking, model aircraft or riding.