§ 93 Mr. DONNERasked the First Commissioner of Works whether his Department is responsible for the erection of a tea house and cottages in the immediate vicinity of Stonehenge; and whether the land on which these buildings stand is vested in his Department?
§ Mr. ORMSBY-GOREI am glad of this opportunity of correcting a misstatement of fact in a speech by my Noble Friend the Member for West Derbyshire (Marquess of Hartington) on the Second Reading of the Town and Country Planning Bill. The cottages are on land vested in my Department, and are occupied by my Department's caretakers. They were built for the previous private owner of Stonehenge, and my Department had no responsibility for their design or for the choice of their site. The tea house was built by a private individual on land which is still private property, and it was the erection of this building that led to the successful appeal for funds to buy up so much as possible of the privately owned land in the neighbourhood of Stonehenge and vest it in the National Trust.
§ Lieut.-Colonel FREMANTLEWill the right bon. Gentleman's Department be prepared to come into line with the pro- 491 posals in the Town and Country Planning Bill with a view to reducing the eyesore of this building at Stonehenge?
§ Mr. ORMSBY-GOREI do not think that my Department has raised any objection to that. As a matter of fact, the land round Stonehenge is not vested with my Department, but in the National Trust, which is the most suitable body for preserving this kind of open space.