Llantrisant New Town (Hansard, 2 July 1973)

§ 3. Mr. Rowlands
asked the Secretary of State for Wales on what date he received his inspector's report of the public inquiry into the proposed Llantrisant New Town.

§ The Secretary of State for Wales (Mr. Peter Thomas)
It was received in the Welsh Office on 7th June. I am studying the report, which is very long, and I will publish it and announce my decision as soon as possible.

§ Mr. Rowlands
Is it the fact that the finding of the right hon. and learned Gentleman's inspector is not in favour of the new town? Will the Secretary of State now make the report available, whatever considerations and deliberations he might wish to have, so that local authorities whose future planning greatly depends on this report can then make it public? There is no reason why what the inspector has said should be an official secret.

§ Mr. Thomas
The hon. Gentleman will not expect me to comment on the contents of the inspector's report before a decision is taken. An inspector's report by itself has no standing until I come to a conclusion on it. That is the reason why I refused to publish the report on the Cardiff hook road. Certainly, I hope to come to a conclusion on this very long report as soon as possible.

§ Mr. Fred Evans
My hon. Friend's point is valid. Surely the Secretary of State must realise what an inhibiting factor this is on areas like those of my hon. Friend and myself, which are urgently in need of industrial development. Firms are reluctant to take decisions in view of what may be found in the Llantrisant inquiry report.

§ Mr. Thomas
I appreciate that it is important that a decision be taken as soon as possible, and, as I said, I intend to do so. But it is a long report, which took the inspector almost a year to prepare. I intend to consider it carefully and, I hope, come to the right decision.

§ Mr. John
Has the Secretary of State also received the interlinked reports on the sewage works and the line of the M4 from Llantrisant? If so, will he consider giving priority to these considerations, because in particular the sewage works is desperately needed to support the increase in population that will go to Llantrisant naturally?

§ Mr. Thomas
I expect to receive the associated reports on the M4 and the sewage disposal works shortly. It is probable that the three reports will be considered concurrently, but it is not possible at this stage to say when decisions will be made or in what order.