HC Deb 06 February 1985 vol 72 cc924-5
5. Mr. Kenneth Carlisle

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what recent measures he has taken to conserve the rural environment.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment (Mr. William Waldegrave)

Our recent agreement to the Broads experimental scheme is a significant step forward both to safeguard the unique landscape and to test the effectiveness of a new means of achieving a viable agriculture in environmentally sensitive areas. We have also just published the Government's response to the Countryside Commission's review of uplands policies.

These decisions follow my right hon. Friend's earlier announcement of substantial increases in grant-in-aid to the commission and the Nature Conservancy Council in 1985–86.

Mr. Carlisle

I am grateful for that reply, but will my hon. Friend emphasise that if we are to conserve wildlife in the wider countryside we need to develop the concept of integrated farming in its practical applications? In this respect I was glad to hear what my hon. Friend said about the Broadlands experimental scheme, but will he press for the extension of this integrated approach to other areas?

Mr. Waldegrave

I am grateful for my hon. Friend's support for the experimental scheme. It has been widely welcomed on both sides of the House and by those who are concerned with the integration of farming and the countryside. Similar schemes are in operation in some of the national parks. This is a major step forward. We all want to learn from it how to go forward in this very sensitive area.

Mr. Chris Smith

In pushing forward his unfortunately inadequate steps to conserve the rural environment, will the Minister be giving wholehearted and full backing to the Bill that is to be introduced on Friday next by my hon. Friend the Member for South Shields (Dr. Clark)?

Mr. Waldegrave

I am sure that the hon. Gentleman is a great expert on these matters. The Government have done much more than the Labour Government did. It is well known that we welcome the blocking of the three-month loophole, as proposed by the hon. Member for South Shields (Dr. Clark). However, I hope that the hon. Member for South Shields will await my proper response to his Bill when we debate it on Friday.

Mr. Steen

Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the best ways of conserving greenfield sites in the countryside is for the Government to auction off some of the 112,000 acres still on the land register and in public ownership?

Mr. Waldegrave

I think that there is something in what my hon. Friend says, but it does not relate directly to these issues.

Dr. David Clark

Obviously the protection of the rural environment depends essentially on closing the loopholes in the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Will the Minister state whether the Government intend to back the Bill that will be discussed in the House on Friday, which seeks to close those six major loopholes? Will the hon. Gentleman make a clear and unequivocal statement to the House on where the Government stand? We need the answer now.

Mr. Waldegrave

One major loophole is covered in the hon. Gentleman's Bill, and the Government have long made it clear that they welcome its closure. They also welcome the forthright support given by the all-party Select Committee for the Wildlife and Countryside Act, which has been the subject of much rather ill-informed criticism on the part of some Opposition Members, although not the hon. Gentleman.