HL Deb 02 March 1983 vol 439 cc1133-4

2.47 p.m.

Lord Melchett

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they agree with the Nature Conservancy Council's decision to notify 2,500 acres of West Sedgemoor as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Lord Skelmersdale

My Lords, the identification and notification of SSSIs is a duty which Parliament has placed upon the Nature Conservancy Council. It is not for the Government to agree or disagree with the council's individual decisions, provided they are satisfied that they are properly exercising the duty placed upon them.

Lord Melchett

My Lords, why could not the noble Lord go on to say that in this case the Government are satisfied that the Nature Conservancy Council are properly fulfilling the duty which Parliament has placed upon them? So far, the Government appear to have been deliberately trying to avoid answering that question. Is the noble Lord aware that it is this prevarication by the Government which, at least in part, has led to the recent deplorable incidents on West Sedgemoor, when farmers were driven to burning an effigy of the recently retired president of the Country Landowners' Association?

Lord Skelmersdale

My Lords, I am totally dismayed by the attitude which is being taken by some people, and I deplore the kind of demonstration to which the noble Lord, Lord Melchett, has just referred. However, I believe that these actions are based on unjustified fears and misunderstandings about the effects of the Wildlife and Countryside Act. Now that all the provisions of the Act are in force and financial guidance is available, I hope that matters can be brought back into reasonable perspective. Further to that, I have to announce that my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for the Environment is this Saturday to make his postponed visit, together with the Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the chairman of the Nature Conservancy Council, to talk to the farmers on West Sedgemoor.

Lord Melchett

My Lords, I hope the noble Lord will agree to pass on to the chairman of the Nature Conservancy Council the hopes of us all that he does not go up in flames when he arrives in person on West Sedgemoor. But would the noble Lord answer the first part of my supplementary question: that if the Government had been prepared to state clearly in the past and were prepared to state clearly now that the NCC were acting properly in designating 2,500 acres as a site of special scientific interest in this area, a lot of this trouble might have been avoided?

Lord Skelmersdale

My Lords, I thought that we covered this point very well in the question and answer session that we had the other day. I have nothing to add to what I said then.

Lord Melchett

My Lords, I really must press the noble Lord. He did not cover this point in his previous answer. Is he prepared to say whether or not the Government feel that the NCC are acting properly in what they have done on West Sedgemoor?

Lord Skelmersdale

My Lords, I can repeat the second half of my original Answer. It is not for the Government to agree or disagree with the council's individual decisions provided—and this is the important point that should strike home to the noble Lord, Lord Melchett—the Government are satisfied that the council are properly exercising the duty placed upon them.