§ 18. Mr. Dudley Smithasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if, in view of the amount of green belt and agricultural land which has been converted to industrial and housing use in the past five years, he will restate and redefine Her Majesty's Government's policy on the protection of the countryside.
§ Mr. SkeffingtonThe policy of Her Majesty's Government continues to be the maximum protection of the countryside commensurate with the needs of essential development. In this respect, the recent Countryside Act and the Town and Country Planning Act will enable policy to be effectively applied.
§ Mr. SmithBut now that we have six Ministers overseeing the functions of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, does not the Minister think that the time has come to reappraise the whole policy if ever we are to stem the obvious trend towards the abolition of the countryside? Does not the hon. Gentleman feel that the new Department should go into the whole question, with the idea of bringing forward a policy that will work?
§ Mr. SkeffingtonIf the hon. Gentleman studies, as I am sure he has studied, the two Acts to which I have referred, he will find that they give new powers, particularly in relation to strategic planning, whereby there is a much greater chance of keeping that balance between town and country. But these matters are always being looked at by the Department to see how far we may improve the situation.