§ 58. Mr. Woodnuttasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will now introduce an Order under the Hovercraft Act 1968 giving local authorities control over the siting of hoverports as defined in Section 4(1) of the Act where a material change of use of land is not involved and building or engineering operations are not involved.
§ Mr. William RodgersNo, Sir. The need for this has not been established.
§ Mr. WoodnuttDoes not the hon. Gentleman realise that he and his right hon. Friend have misunderstood every letter I have written to them? Most of these hoverports are being established where there is no material change of user and local authorities have no control whatever. If we are to avoid chaos in the Solent, the Government must introduce an Order in Council under the Hovercraft Act to give local authorities power and control.
§ Mr. RodgersI am sorry that we have not been as helpful to the hon. Member as I had hoped. I realise that he has a difficult local problem. There are some strong feelings involved. The fact remains that the need has not yet been established for the sort of legislation the hon. Member has in mind.