§ Order for Second Reading read.
§ 3.50 p.m.
§ Colonel Sir Harwood Harrison (Eye)I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.
This is a Bill dealing with our smallest councils. I believe that, in the Mother of Parliaments, always we should look to the safeguarding of democracy which is so often at risk today.
Our smallest authorities are the parish councils, and I know them well, having started my public life by serving on one. The Bill provides that parish councils should have the right to be informed of and to make comments on any proposal for planning within their boundaries, though it is not my intention that they should be given the power to veto such proposals. In addition, it provides that they should be informed of the final outcome.
A new development in a country area has far more effect on its surroundings than it would in a town, and, once land is developed for a particular use, that use persists for a very long time.
As can be seen from its sponsors, the Bill has all-party support. In addition, it has the support of the Parish Councils Association branches in my two counties of Suffolk. Incidentally, in East Suffolk there is already a practice of informing parish councils of what is to happen in 2005 their areas. I have had encouragement from a great many councils outside my own county. The Women's Institutes have also given me support, and they cannot be said to have any political axe to grind. I attach special importance to their support, as they represent village life throughout the country, and frequently it is women who know what is desirable in our villages.
It has been put to me that it is rather odd that I, as a Conservative, should move a Bill which may create more work. However, I can see no extra work for any officials arising under it. It will not mean the creation of a single additional local government post, but, by making use of local knowledge, it will prevent money being wasted and badly spent.
Within the last ten days, I have had drawn to my attention an outrageous case which has arisen in my constituency where neither the county council nor the parish council of Orford was informed that the Ministry of Defence proposed to build a new radio research station in the parish on a long spit of land which runs for 10 miles along the river Alde until it reaches the sea. There are Government buildings on it already, but this is a £5 million project, for a Radio Research Station, and the Ministry did not bother to inform the county council of its intentions. It is proposed to start work on it in April. It has only come to light as a result of local people hearing rumours and this caused the county council finally to write to the Ministry.
Last week, I put down a Question to the Minister for Written Answer, and I thought that I would get an apology from him. The House is always generous to Ministers who apologise. Instead, I was told that, owing to a "misunderstanding", the East Suffolk County Council was given "short notice". It takes two sides to reach a misunderstanding. Nothing wrong has been done by the county council, and the whole blame must rest on the Ministry of Defence and, possibly, the Minister of Housing and Local Government. If my proposed Measure had been on the Statute Book, the Department would have been obliged to get a certificate of approval from the parish council stating that it had considered the project. This is a flagrant example of what my Bill 2006 seeks to avoid. if our local authorities are to be ridden over roughshod by Government Departments, that is all the more reason for strengthening the hands of our elected representatives, including those on parish councils.
I can cite many other examples where parish councils have not been able to intervene. There is the case of a sewerage scheme which was started by a rural district council on waterlogged land. It had to be abandoned after £9,000 had been spent. There is another case of the planning of houses round where there were some lovely oak trees, which were diseased and later had to come down. So it goes on because local people are not consulted.
Another reason I would put forward for the Bill is the state of our rural district councils. I have 10 local government councils operating in my constituency and I have 189 parishes. I suppose that on average a rural district councillor represents about five parishes. He probably cannot intimately know more than the village in which he lives. He may not be on the planning committee which considers all these cases, and they are very hard-working on the thousands of cases which come before them, but it is even less likely that the county councillor of the parish will be on the planning committee. The chances are about one in twenty. Therefore, all these decisions are made without any reference to local knowledge.
What the Bill is seeking is that the applicant makes application to the parish council for planning permission. The council has to consider it in three weeks. It cannot stop it, but it can make comments and put up any sensible local views. I believe that this is right.
We all know that we shall have revision of local government and it is likely that rural district councils will be amalgamated with urban district councils and it seems likely that rural district councillors will in future represent even more parishes than they do at the present time. So here is another reason for bringing in the parish councils.
There are provisions in the second part of the Bill on which I would have spoken at greater length had I had more time, but I think that this little Measure is very desirable in the interests of village 2007 life, and I hope it will get a Second Reading. I shall be very willing to consider any reasonable Amendments which the Minister or others may want to move in Committee. It is possible under the Bill for a parish council to contract out if it wants to, or there can be schemes for linking parishes together. The purpose is to bring the elected representatives of parish councils, whose local knowledge is so valuable, more into the planning life of our councils, and I commend this Bill most wholeheartedly to the House.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Bill accordingly read a Second time.
§ Bill committed to a Standing Committee pursuant to Standing Order No. 40 (Committal of Bills).