HC Deb 17 March 1949 vol 462 cc2257-60
15. Major Legge-Bourke

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power why his Department has decided to use View Tree site, at Harley, in the parish of Wentworth, for opencast coalmining, despite the fact that 23½ acres of it is woodland and 78¼ acres is part of a pedigree Ayrshire dairy farm of 112¾ acres, and despite the Rotherham Rural District Council having unanimously decided to protest against any further destruction in the parish of Wentworth.

Mr. Gaitskell

It is proposed to work this site because it contains an exceptionally rich deposit of about 800,000 tons of very good coal, the value of which is estimated at approximately £12,000 per acre. To win an equivalent quantity from other agricultural land would normally entail the working of about four times the area required at this particular site.

Major Legge-Bourke

What will the Minister do for Mr. Loveley, the tenant of this farm; will the right hon. Gentleman give him proper compensation to ensure that he is able to keep his herd somewhere else?

Mr. Gaitskell

I think the hon. and gallant Member will be aware that the question of compensation is really one for my right hon. Friend the Minister of Works.

Major Legge-Bourke

And very unsatisfactory it is.

16. Major Legge-Bourke

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power why his Department has decided to use Boulder Falls site, to the south of the main Wentworth site, for opencast coalmining, despite the fact that it contains a seven acre plantation of immature hardwoods, and despite its leaving the farm tenants of 87 acres with only seven acres.

Mr. Gaitskell

Because the site contains a rich deposit of 500,000 tons of good quality coal estimated to be worth £6,500 an acre, and because the winning of an equivalent quantity of coal from other agricultural land would normally entail the requisitioning of more than twice the area required here.

Major Legge-Bourke

Does not the Minister realise that the decision to use this site involves the tenant farmer being put completely out of business, and will the right hon. Gentleman take some steps to see that this man is enabled to earn a livelihood somewhere else in the district, and that he does not have to give up the whole of his farm?

Mr. Gaitskell

These are very grave issues, and I have a great deal of sympathy with the tenant farmer in question, but the question of compensation is not, as the hon. and gallant Member knows, one which should be addressed to me.

27. Mr. Erroll

asked the Minister of Fuel and Power if, in view of the danger to persons and property caused by rock blasting and the detriment to the health of local inhabitants caused by all night rock tipping at the Winstanley Hall Opencast Coal No. 3A site, he will order an immediate cessation of operations there.

Mr. Gaitskell

No, Sir.

Mr. Tom Brown

Is the Minister aware of the large number of letters I have sent to him and his Department, and that on 21st February, I sent him a copy of a letter I had received from the Medical Officer of Health and members of the town council? Is he also aware that I followed that up with an interview, and that as a result of that a meeting is to take place on Monday next on the site with members of the local town council and other people? Is he further aware that I have had letters of thanks from the people in that district appreciating my efforts on their behalf? Is it right, just, honest or honourable for the hon. Member for Altrincham and Sale (Mr. Erroll) to clutter up the Order Paper with matters about which he knows nothing?

Mr. Gaitskell

My hon. Friend has been most persistent on behalf of his constituents, and I can assure the House that with his help and advice we shall be able to deal with this problem.

Mr. Erroll

Will the Minister consider especially the grievances of those householders about whom I have written to him, who have been so shamefully neglected by the hon. Member for Ince (Mr. T. Brown) solely because most of them are Tories?

Mr. W. R. Williams

On a point of Order. Is it in order for an hon. Member to make a charge of that kind against an hon. Member who is a long serving Member of this House without giving some information in confirmation of his statement?

Mr. Speaker

It is very difficult. I allowed the hon. Member for Ince (Mr. T. Brown) to ask the first supplementary question, because it was his constituency and, therefore, he was entitled to say what he had done. If I may say so, it is a little unfortunate that he rather threw the ball into the arena at the end of his question by saying that it was not fair for the hon. Member for Altrincham and Sale (Mr. Erroll) to put this question. That is a matter of opinion, but then the hon. Member for Altrincham and Sale threw the ball back. Once the ball is in play like that, it is very difficult for the referee, and I suggest now that we had better proceed to the next Question.

Mr. Gallacher

The hon. Member for Ince (Mr. T. Brown) played a clean ball but all that the hon. Member opposite did was to throw a handful of mud.