HC Deb 11 November 1964 vol 701 cc1009-10
20. Mr. Owen

asked the Minister of Transport what representations he has received from the National Council of Inland Transport concerning the urgent need for a reassessment of railway closures; what reply he has sent; and whether he will make a statement.

Mr. Swingler

The Council has made representations that closures to which the Minister's predecessor has given consent but which have not yet taken place should be halted and that demolition of the track on closed lines should stop. It also asked that hearings by transport users' consultative committees in respect of other proposals by the Railways Board should be deferred until the whole policy and procedure had been reviewed. My right hon. Friend's reply, of which I am sending my hon. Friend a copy, referred the Council to his statement made on 4th November.

Mr. Hay

Would the hon. Gentleman and his right hon. Friend treat with the greatest reserve the advice given by this so-called National Council of Inland Transport? It is in many ways a self-appointed body and its opinions in the past have been wildly wrong.

Mr. Swingler

The hon. Gentleman will appreciate that we are getting advice on the subject of halting rail closures from all sorts of quarters, and especially the benches opposite. We are sufficiently open-minded to consider these representations on their merits.

Sir D. Walker-Smith

On the question of the Minister's power to vary or revoke a decision already made, does the hon. Gentleman appreciate that there may well be two views about it as a matter of law? Will his right hon. Friend be frank with the House and give a list of those closures in respect of which decisions have already been made that he would wish to reverse, assuming, as may well he the case, that he has the power?

Mr. Swingler

It is amazing that hon. and right hon. Members opposite who have been supporting the Minister of Transport for many years should ask us questions of that kind. The terms of the statement made on 4th November by my right hon. Friend were quite clear about the powers which he has and has not. He does not have the power to revoke consents previously given but he has the power to vary the conditions. My right hon. Friend said that when he considers these matters and is in receipt of representations he is prepared to exercise the power to vary the conditions where concrete evidence of the necessity is produced.

Mr. Webster

Now that the chairman of this body, Lord Stonham, has been received into the Government, will the Government now disband it?

Mr. Milne

Is my hon. Friend aware that many of the difficulties with regard to closures have arisen because the former Minister of Transport refused to listen to the advice of the transport users' consultative committee in many areas?

Mr. Swingler

All I can say is that we are listening to the advice of the committees and those bodies interested in securing a decent transport service for the community and the country generally. It is on that basis that we are considering this matter.