asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs when the Clerk of the Parish of Burntwood may expect a reply to his letter on 9th April, 1964, a reminder having been sent on 29th April, to neither of which a reply or an acknowledgment has been received; and whether he will expedite a reply, which involves a site for a Scout hut at Burntwood, Staffordshire.

A reply giving the parish council the consent it wanted was sent on 25th May: I very much regret the failure to acknowledge earlier.

Improbable though it may appear, I was once a Boy Scout. Therefore, the hon. Gentleman will understand that I was rather anxious that the parish should get support in this matter. I do not wish to make heavy weather of this, but ought not the parish council to get the same prompt attention as a larger authority would?

Yes, Sir. I assure the hon. Member that parish councils do get the same attention. I apologise that acknowledgement was not made in this case. The very fact that it was a parish council meant that we had to consult the planning authority. That would not be the case if the application came from the planning authority itself.

Is it not surprising that it is necessary for a parish council to have to go to the Ministry about a Scout hut? Might it not be possible to consider whether some of these powers ought not to be more decentralised?

That is always a fair point, but in this case the reason why the parish council had to go to the Ministry was that public open space was involved.