West Country and Wales (Snow Storm)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 23 February 1978.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mr Denis Howell Mr Denis Howell , Birmingham Small Heath 12:00, 23 February 1978

I cannot believe that the local authorities could have been much more efficient than they were on this occasion. They went into action almost immediately. I asked the same question: what is the relationship between the county councils and the district councils? The regional offices, particularly of the Department of the Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food—and I am sure the same applies to the Welsh Office—were very soon into action carrying out their overall co-ordinating role, particularly of getting additional machinery from the Services, and from other local authorities brought into the region as quickly as they could by the best possible route.

We shall examine the lessons of these difficulties, as we did with the floods and the drought. If there are any lessons to learn, we shall try to learn them, but I am glad to say that many of the lessons we learnt in the drought two years ago, and the priorities we established then, stood us in very good stead on this occasion.