§ 39. Mr. Danceasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs whether he will introduce legislation to ensure that rural district councils give advance information to parish councils regarding proposed future housing development programmes in their parishes.
§ Mr. BrookeNormally each parish is represented on the rural district council, and I would hardly have thought that special legislation to give effect to my hon. Friend's suggestion was justified.
§ Mr. DanceIs my right hon. Friend aware that development is going on in rural villages where the villagers have had no knowledge of it at all? I know of one village, for example, which consists of a hundred houses and where plans for building another hundred, doubling the size, are well advanced. That will alter the whole character of the village, and it is causing bitter resentment among the villagers. Does that encourage local people to sit on parish councils?
§ Mr. BrookeI advise the people in that and other villages to vote at the rural district council elections this week, because every parish has its own representative on the rural district council.