HC Deb 17 February 1983 vol 37 cc459-60
12. Mr. Kenneth Carlisle

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will allow cost-benefit appraisals for land drainage improvement schemes to be made publicly available on request.

Mrs. Fenner

Cost-benefit appraisals for land drainage improvement schemes are compiled from information obtained from individuals on a confidential basis and it would be a breach of confidence to make this information public.

Mr. Carlisle

Does my hon. Friend agree that many land drainage schemes are highly controversial, especially when they affect wildlife sites? Would it not be sensible to make public the cost-benefit appraisals, or at least to make them available to the Nature Conservancy Council where the information is truly confidential, because it is important to seek much greater public support for these cost appraisal procedures?

Mrs. Fenner

I assure my hon. Friend that the cost-benefit assessment is only one factor taken into account before a scheme can be approved. Matters not quantifiable in strict economic terms, such as the duty imposed on the Minister by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to further the interests of conservation, are taken into account. Water authorities and internal drainage boards have the same duty as the Minister to further the interests of conservation. When they submit schemes for grant, they are required to confirm that they have consulted the appropriate conservation interests and that those interests, to which my hon. Friend referred, are content.

Mr. Hardy

In assessing proposals to change land use or landscape feature, will the Minister begin to give serious consideration to the fact that the conditions imposed by the inclosure legislation in the 18th and 19th centuries are still in force? Does she accept that in recent years considerable sums of public money have been spent to support illegality?

Mrs. Fenner

I know about the matter to which the hon. Gentleman refers. He has already been answered by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment. The hon. Gentleman knows that the Inclosure Acts are not maintained in perpetuity.

Mr. J. Enoch Powell

Will the Government give further attention to finding a solution to this real problem? Is the hon. Lady aware that the absence of transparency in cost-benefit in drainage is a serious handicap to the promotion of land drainage?

Mrs. Fenner

I accept the right hon. Gentleman's view on this, but I can only emphasise that the cost-benefit assessment is only an immediate and first step and is but part of the whole consideration. To breach the confidentiality of the cost-benefit analysis would hardly add to the information.

Mr. Body

Can my hon. Friend confirm the estimate, given in the press recently, that more than 250,000 acres were subject to those schemes last year?

Mrs. Fenner

I cannot do that off the top of my head, but I shall arrange for the information to be given to my hon. Friend.

Mr. Mark Hughes

What is the position of the 1926 judgment on common law and common land enclosures? Has that land now reverted to common if it has not been enclosed?

Mrs. Fenner

I shall certainly have to take advice, as did the hon. Member for Rother Valley (Mr. Hardy), to ensure the correct ministerial responsibilities in relation to this matter.