HC Deb 19 July 1972 vol 841 cc811-4

FUNCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO NATIONAL PARK AND THE CONTRYSIDE

Amendments made: No. 749, in page 270, line 7, leave out from beginning to end of line 49 on page 271 and insert:

Planning Boards and National Park Committees

  1. 1. If immediately before the 1st April 1974 there is an existing joint planning board constituted by an order under section 1 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1971 for a National Park comprised in two or more existing counties and as from that date the Park will be comprised in two or more new counties, the Secretary of State shall make an order reconstituting the existing board for discharging the functions to which this Part of this Schedule applies and Schedule 1 to that Act shall apply to a joint board so reconstituted and the order reconstituting it as it applies to a joint board constituted under that section and the order constituting it and shall so apply as if the area of the Park were a united district.
  2. 2. An order under the said section 1 constituting a new joint board for a united district consisting of the whole or part of a National Park and comprised in two or more new counties may confer on the board, in addition to the functions of a county planning authority under the Town and Country Planning Act 1971, any other functions to which this Part of this Schedule applies.
  3. 3. If immediately before 1st April 1974 there is an existing joint planning board for a National Park comprised in two or more existing counties and on that date the Park will be wholly comprised in one new county, the Secretary of State shall by order reconstitute that board as a special planning board to discharge the functions to which this Part of this Schedule applies as respects the area of the Park and any enactment relating to joint boards constituted by an order under section 1 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1971 shall apply to a special planning board reconstituted under this Part of this Schedule and to the order reconstituting it as it applies to a joint planning board constituted under that section and to the order constituting it and shall so apply as if the area of the Park were a united district, but with the substitution of references to the council of a new county for any reference to the constituent authorities.
  4. 4. The Secretary of State may by an order under paragraph 1 or 3 above, or by an order under the said section 1 relating to a united district consisting of the whole or part of a National Park, or by an order under this paragraph, confer on a joint or special planning board for a National Park or any part of a National Park any of the additional country side functions as respects the Park or, as the case may be, any part of it.
  5. 5. For every National Park for which there is no joint planning board or special planning board the council or councils of the county or 812 counties in which the Park is comprised shall make arrangements under section 101 above for the discharge of the following functions of theirs as respects the Park by a separate committee to be known as a National Park Committee, that is to say—
    1. (a) their functions to which this Part of this Schedule applies except those mentioned in paragraph 6 below; and
    2. (b) their functions as local authority under the 1949 Act and the 1968 Act.
  6. 6. The functions of a council or councils excepted from the requirement imposed by paragraph 5 above are—
    1. (a) their functions under Part II of the Town and Country Planning Act 1971; and
    2. (b) their functions under Part III and, so far as relating to planning control under Part III, Part V of that Act with respect to the carrying out of any such operations or any such use of land as are described in paragraphs (i) to (iii) of paragraph 17(1)(d) of Schedule 16 to this Act;
    3. (c) their functions under Part III and, so far as relating to planning control under Part III, Part V of that Act with respect to the carrying out of any operations affecting, or any use of, land partly situated in the National Park and partly in some other area, where those functions so far as relating to operations affecting, or the use of, land in that other area are exercisable by the local planning authority for that other area.
  7. 7. The validity of anything done or purporting to have been done by a National Park Committee in pursuance of arrangements made by virtue of paragraph 5 above shall not be called in question in any legal proceedings, or in any proceedings under the Town and Country Planning Act 1971 which are not legal proceedings, on the ground that it ought to have been done by the authority or one of the authorities by whom the arrangements were made.
  8. 8. The National Park Committee for a Park comprised in two or more new counties shall be appointed by the council of such of those counties as may be agreed between the councils of those counties or, in default of agreement, jointly by both or all those councils, and, where it is appointed by one of those councils, the expenses incurred by the Committee shall be defrayed by both or all those councils in such proportions as they may agree or as in default of agreement may be determined by the Secretary of State.
  9. 9. A National Park Committee may arrange with a district planning authority whose area comprises any part of the Park for the authority to discharge as respects a part of the Park within their area such of the functions exercisable by the Committee by virtue of paragraph 5 above as may be agreed between the Committee and the Countryside Commission or as in default of agreement may be determined by the Secretary of State.
  10. 10. Where a joint planning board, special planning board or National Park Committee is required to be established by being reconstituted or appointed under this Part of this 813 Schedule for any area being or comprised in a National Park, the requirement shall be deemed to be complied with in any case approved by the Secretary of State after consultation with the Countryside Commission if the board or Committee is established for that area together with other land.
  11. 11. Not less than one-third of the members of a joint planning board, special planning board or National Park Committee established for an area being or comprising the whole or any part of a National Park shall be persons appointed by the Secretary of State after consultation with the Countryside Commission.

No. 750, in page 272, line 8, leave out from beginning to 'application', and insert 'Section 101, shall, in its'.

No. 751, in page 272, line 19, leave out from '5' to end of line 21 and insert 'above are required to be discharged by a National Park Committee except in accordance with that paragraph'.

No. 752, in page 272, line 23, leave out from '5' to end of line 25 and insert 'for the discharge of any functions by a National Park Committee'.

No. 753, in page 272, leave out lines 26 to 33 and insert— 11A. In the case of a National Park Committee for a National Park wholly comprised in one county the members of the Committee shall (subject to paragraph 11 above) be appointed by, and the majority of those members shall be members of, the council of the county, and in the case of a National Park Committee for a National Park comprised in two or more counties the members of the Committee shall (subject as aforesaid) be appointed by such of the councils of those counties as may be agreed between those councils or as in default of agreement may be determined by the Secretary of State and a majority of the members of the Committee shall be members of those councils, and—

  1. (a) so much of section 102(3) above as regulates the proportion of members of a committee shall not apply to a National Park Committee; and
  2. (b) section 102(5) shall apply to a member of a National Park Committee appointed under this paragraph as being a member of a county council as it applies in relation to a member of a committee appointed under that section who was at the time of his appointment a member of the appointing authority or one of the appointing authorities.

National Park Officer

11B. Every joint planning board, special planning board or National Park Committee established for a National Park shall after consultation with the Countryside Commission appoint an officer, to be known as a National Park Officer, for the purposes of the functions exercisable by them as respects the Park by virtue of section 1 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1971 or this Part of this Schedule. 11C. A National Park Officer appointed by a National Park Committee shall be an officer of the county council by whom the Committee was established or, if it was established by two or more such council, such one of them as they may agree or as, in default of agreement, may be determined by the Secretary of State. 11D. A National Park Officer appointed by a joint board or special planning board or a National Park Committee shall not be employed for any purpose other than one mentioned in paragraph 11B above except after consultation between the authority by whom he is employed and the Countryside Commission and, in the case of a National Park Officer appointed by a National Park Committee, except with the Committee's consent

National Parks Plans

11E. Every joint planning board, special planning board or National Park Commission established for a National Park shall—

  1. (a) within three years of 1st April 1974 or of being established, whichever is the later, prepare and publish a plan to be known as a National Park Plan formulating their policy for the management of the Park and for the exercise of the functions exercisable by them as respects the Park; and
  2. (b) review at intervals of not more than five years a National Park Plan published under this paragraph, making any amendments to it which they consider expedient, and publish a report on their review and any such amendments.
11F. Every such board of committee established for a National Park shall in preparing or reviewing a National Park Plan send a copy of the proposed plan or review to the Countryside Commission and to any district planning authority whose area is wholly or partly comprised in the Park and take into consideration any observations of the Commission or any such authority thereon and shall send the Secretary of State a copy of a National Park Plan published under paragraph 11E above and of the report on any review or amendments so published.

No. 754, in page 272, line 37, at end insert 'and any enactment amending any of those Acts'.

No. 1018, in page 274, line 29, leave out paragraph 24 and insert— '24. Section 28(3) of the 1949 Act shall not apply to Wales and in that subsection the word "rural" shall be omitted and for the words "representative body of the parish or a member of that body" there shall be substituted the words "chairman of the parish meeting or any person representing the parish on the district council" '.—[Mr. Graham Page.]

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