Orders of the Day — Peak District National Park

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 10 February 1970.

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Photo of Mr Arthur Skeffington Mr Arthur Skeffington , Hayes and Harlington 12:00, 10 February 1970

I should like to begin by saying that my hon. Friend the Member for the High Peak (Mr. Peter M. Jackson) and other hon. Members have been extremely patient about the length of time that the matter of the extension of the Peak District National Park has been under consideration. I must admit that it has taken far too long, and I shall certainly not attempt to justify the time. I hope that I may give some brief explanation of how some of the time has been consumed. In part, it is due to the procedure itself, but there is no doubt that the matter should have been settled long before now. As far as I can, I hope to be in a position to see that never again when there is a case of this character will so much time elapse.

May I briefly put the matter into perspective. I begin by referring, as did my hon. Friend, to the most interesting and well worked-out proposals put forward by the Voluntary Joint Committee. They were of some magnitude. The area of this national park is small—some 542 square miles. The Voluntary Committee's suggestions would mean adding no fewer than 16 new areas, totalling 110 square miles—a substantial addition.

The committee believed that these areas should be added partly because they contained landscape of high quality and partly because this would bring some relief to this small but heavily used park. Here we come up against the first of the procedural points. When a national park is to be designated, the Countryside Commission, or, in the old days, the National Parks Commission, undertakes the inquiries, prepares the order and sends it to my right hon. Friend for confirmation. Under Section 7 of the 1949 Act, for some reason which is not clear to me, when there is an extension it has to be incorporated in an order prepared by my right hon. Friend and not by the National Parks Commission or the Countryside Commission. This means that my right hon. Friend and his staff have to do this work, which is time consuming. They have to have consultations, and, if there are objections, there may have to be a local inquiry. We must certainly consider for the future whether we ought not to standardise the procedure in order to save time. That would require legislation, and I am not certain when it will be possible to do something about it.

However, in this matter it was necessary when the proposals came forward to have fairly wide consultations. The first reason is that the original boundaries of the Peak area were most carefully delineated by the Hobhouse Committee, and, clearly, all the interests, the Countryside Commission and the local authorities, must be satisfied that the extension, taking all factors into consideration, would be appropriate. That work has been undertaken.

If my hon. Friend thinks that those informal consultations were non-contentious, he is in for a considerable surprise. I do not want to make this an alibi, but part of the time spent in consultations has been used in finding possible ways round some of the difficulties. I hope that that will not be regarded as a waste of time.

These informal consultations with the Countryside Commission, the Peak Planning Committee itself and other bodies have taken place, and other consultations with the local authorities have followed.

Here again there was great delay before we were able to follow up with these authorities. I must point out that perhaps we are all in a sense to blame for this. We have never had, although the position is now vastly improved, the staff to do all the work and meet the new obligations that we have been putting on the Countryside Commission and the Department. I can remember my surprise when I found that in the Ministry of Housing in 1965 there was a fraction of a person allocated to looking after the whole of the considerations of our coastline. When this was started the staff of the commission was very small. It is much better now. I personally hope that in this European Conservation Year it may be possible to strengthen the staff. I know that the chairman would welcome this.

We are now in the position of having had all the informal consultations. If my right hon. Friend is able to go ahead he will have to consult with the other Government Departments. We have done all the consultations with our regional office. When a draft order is published, if there are objections, then an inquiry may have to be held.