Port Development (Hansard, 27 November 1963)

§ 25. Mr. Hoy
asked the Secretary of State for Scotland when he expects to announce the schemes of port development outlined in Command Paper No. 2188.

§ Mr. Noble
The White Paper on Central Scotland gave a general indication of desirable port developments; consideration of detailed plans is a matter in the first place for the port authorities concerned and for the National Ports Council. My right hon. Friend, the Minister of Transport has drawn the attention of the Council to the special needs of Central Scotland and their recommendations will be reported to him in due course.

§ Mr. Hoy
Is this not most unsatisfactory? Does not the right hon. Gentleman realise that the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport, in our debate on the Rochdale Report in July, said that this would cause no undue delay? Is he further aware that this proposal was put forward by the Leith Docks Commission four years ago and that it has been approved not only by Ministry of Transport technical experts but by the consulting firms and everybody else in Scotland? How much longer must we wait before the right hon. Gentleman is able to get the Government to make the decision to allow us to go ahead with the scheme which, the Rochdale Committee said, could be carried out at a price only one-fifth of that incurred in any other part of the country if it was done expeditiously?

§ Mr. Noble
As the hon. Gentleman knows, this is a question for my right hon. Friend the Minister of Transport, who has said that he has asked the Rochdale Committee to deal with it urgently.

§ Mr. Ross
It is also a question for the right hon. Gentleman, who publishes a White Paper which purports to be a comprehensive plan but does not offer any real plan or decision, merely stating that plans are being examined. This, as my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, Leith (Mr. Hoy) has said, has been going on for four years. When will we get a decision from the right hon. Gentleman?

§ Mr. Noble
I have the duty of exercising a general oversight of the range of proposals contained in the programme outlined in the White Paper. My direct responsibilities for specific projects are, and must remain, confined to those for which I am directly responsible to Parliament.

§ Mr. Ross
Surely the right hon. Gentleman is responsible for what his scriptwriters put into Tory propaganda masquerading as White Papers?

§ Mr. Hoy
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. In view of the very unsatisfactory nature of the reply, I beg to give notice that I shall seek to raise this matter on the Adjournment once more at the earliest possible moment.