§ (1) This section has effect as respects any National Park joint planning board, that is to say a joint planning board constituted under section 2 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1962 for an area which consist of or includes any part of a National Park.
§ (2) Any such board may defray—
- (a) any travelling or other expenses reasonably incurred by or an behalf of members or officers of the board, or of any committee of the board, in attending a conference or meeting convened by one or more local planning authorities whose areas include the whole or part of a National Park, or by any association of such authorities, being a con
1138 ference or meeting for the purpose of discussing any matter connected with the discharge of functions exercisable by local planning authorities in respect of National Parks; - (b) any travelling or other expenses reasonably incurred by or on behalf of members or officers of the board, or of any committee of the board, in making official or courtesy visits, whether inside or outside the United Kingdom, on behalf of the board;
- (c) any expenses incurred in the reception and entertainment by way of official courtesy of distinguished persons residing in or visiting the board's area, and of persons representative of or connected with other local planning authorities or bodies concerned with matters relating to the countryside, whether inside or outside the United Kingdom, and in the supply of information to any such persons.
§ (3) In the case of a visit within the United Kingdom, the amount defrayed in respect of the expenses of a member of the board shall not exceed the payments which he would have been entitled to receive by way of travelling allowance or subsistence allowance under section 113 of the Local Government Act 1948 if the making of the visit had been an approved duty of that member within the meaning of that section.—[Mr. MacDermot.]
§ Brought up, and read the First time.
§ The Minister of State, Ministry of Housing and Local Government (Mr. Niall MacDermot)I beg to move. That the Clause be read a Second time.
The Clause honours an undertaking I gave to the hon. Member for Westmorland (Mr. Jopling) on the Amendment he moved in Committee. The effect of the new Clause is to empower National Park joint planning boards to pay expenses incurred by members or officers attending conferences and making official or courtesy visits. The boards are also empowered to pay reasonable expenses associated with the reception and entertainment of distinguished persons. The new Clause covers all the points I undertook to cover.
§ Mr. Michael Jopling (Westmorland)I am grateful to the Minister of State for moving the Clause. It goes the whole way to meet the case I put during the Committee stage. The joint planning board in the Lake District have the greatest difficulty in suitably entertaining distinguished visitors from overseas. This came to a head when we were honoured by a visit by the Duke of Edinburgh in 1966, and it was necessary to go through the rigmarole under Section 228 of the Local Government 1139 Act, 1933. The new Clause will make this procedure unnecessary, and we are grateful to the Minister for moving it.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Clause read a Second time, and added to the Bill.