Mr Reginald Eyre: It will be remembered that the purpose of the Bill is to give the city of Birmingham an opportunity to provide once a year a great tourist attraction in the form of a motor race and associated family attractions on a carefully chosen pattern of roads near the city centre. It is believed that the event will attract considerable media interest in a new and attractive part of Birmingham and will...
Mr Reginald Eyre: I had hoped that it was clear from my opening remarks that I had tabled them on the basis that they would improve the Bill.
Mr Reginald Eyre: I have always accepted that the hon. Gentleman's purpose was to improve the measure. I am grateful to him for the attention that he has given to these matters and for his decision not to proceed with amendment No. 7. New clause 3 is also designed to meet points that were made in our earlier debates. This provision meets my undertaking that if the revenue accounts for the first five financial...
Mr Reginald Eyre: asked the Secretary of State for Transport how many international scheduled services currently operate out of regional airports; and how many operated in 1983.
Mr Reginald Eyre: Is my hon. Friend aware that those impressive figures show the Government's commitment to regional airports? How many more routes have started from regional airports since 1983?
Mr Reginald Eyre: I wish to reply to the points raised by Opposition Members. I begin by apologising to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Perry Barr (Mr. Rooker) for not having referred to amendment No. 7. I did not hear it called and did not think that it was grouped with the amendments; otherwise I would certainly have spoken to it. The hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Mr. Davis) showed a degree of...
Mr Reginald Eyre: The hon. Gentleman is saying that we should accept new clause 1 and amend it in another place. I am sorry, but I believe that that procedure would be without precedent. It would reflect badly on the House, especially when one considers that there is a difficulty in using the terms of the definition. However, I have given an undertaking on behalf of the city council. I believe that we have...
Mr Reginald Eyre: I understand the hon. Lady's point, although I am sorry that she wishes to press the matter to a vote. There is not much more for me to say, except to explain my reasons for rejecting amendment No. 16. The hon. Member for Perry Barr (Mr. Rooker) wants the amendment to be accepted. The difficulty in answering his point, at my present stage of instructions and present responsibility, is the...
Mr Reginald Eyre: I am grateful to the hon. Member for Hodge Hill, who has clarified a possible misunderstanding arising from what I said earlier. He is right in saying that amendment No. 16 relates to the initial capital expenditure, which, as we know, has been said to be £750,000 a year for two years, totalling £1·5 million. I suppose that it would be difficult to ask any councillor or any public body to...
Mr Reginald Eyre: My hon. Friend is right to make that point. The sceptical view taken by some people, in a quite healthy way, has caused much care to be taken in the preparation of the Bill, and the degree of care has increased as time has passed.
Mr Reginald Eyre: Perhaps my hon. Friend will excuse me for just a moment. I was describing the preparation to Opposition Members. My hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Edgbaston (Dame J. Knight) is right—none of us believe that the city of Birmingham would be anything other than responsible when calculating such expenditure. The issues of sensitivity which the hon. Member for Hodge Hill mentioned are...
Mr Reginald Eyre: I am not saying that capital expenditure of £1·7 million is not acceptable. I am saying that the strict terms of amendment No. 16 would be difficult for any responsible body to accept. As I have explained, the job will be phased over two years, during which time there might be some unforeseen event. It might cost only £300,000, but if that sum took the total over the limit, the city...
Mr Reginald Eyre: I believe that, in regard to compensation and the involvement of the Lands Tribunal, my hon. Friend does not accept a principle that has been established in much legislation in which power is given to a public authority to carry out major works. The Lands Tribunal has always been accepted as the eventual appeal body for calculations of compensatory damages. The matter was carefully...
Mr Reginald Eyre: I am grateful to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood (Ms. Short) for the forthright way in which she moved the amendments. I appreciate the underlying principle that both she and the hon. Members for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Mr. Davis) and for Birmingham, Perry Barr (Mr. Rooker) have advanced in asking for detailed study and consideration of the point encompassed in both amendments. In...
Mr Reginald Eyre: I am not fully acquainted with all the mysteries of the procedural difficulties that apply in Parliament. I understand that if we were to seek to make the change now, a manuscript amendment would be necessary and that there would not be time to incorporate the points made by the hon. Member for Ladywood in a suitable form of words. I am giving an undertaking of equivalent value in that such...
Mr Reginald Eyre: I appreciate the hon. Gentleman's impatience to settle the matter promptly. He will know that I am not in charge of the detailed professional handling of the Bill. I am faced with the technical fact that while I am able to accept the principle of the amendment, consideration must be given to it so that a suitable form of words, from the accounting and legal point of view, may be devised. I...
Mr Reginald Eyre: I have had much experience of piloting legislation through the House. I have given an undertaking without reservation on behalf of Birmingham city council. I hope that the hon. Lady and her hon. Friends will be kind enough to accept it. I assure her that no damage will be done to her argument and that the result will be exactly the one that she wants to secure. Amendment No. 16 raises more...
Mr Reginald Eyre: With respect, I think that my hon. Friend has not taken full account of the deliberations of the Committee. Special provisions with regard to liability affecting Birmingham were made, which took it into a special category, part of which my hon. Friend mentioned. But the total balance is very much in favour of anyone who is injured. I think that that was a proper liability to place upon the...
Mr Reginald Eyre: I take the point that the hon. Gentleman makes. If the event is held and attracts the flow of visitors and the expenditure that has been taken account of, all that activity creates the prospect of further employment in a wider sector.
Mr Reginald Eyre: I am most grateful to my hon. Friend the Minister for her positive attitude. I assure her that the city of Birmingham will take full account of and comply with the requirements that she has specified relating to safety, environmental considerations and other such matters. I apologise to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood (Ms. Short) for missing the opening sentences of her speech. She...
