§ 13. Mr. David ShawTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment by how much the Government have increased funding to the Countryside Commission since 1979; and how funding will be increased in the next three years.
§ Mr. Heathcoat-AmorySince 1979, grant in aid to the Countryside Commission has more than doubled in real terms to £25 million this year. The commission will lose its responsibilities in Wales from April 1991, but its grant for England is planned to rise to more than £30 million next year and £41 million over the following two years.
§ Mr. ShawDoes my hon. Friend agree that the Countryside Commission has done particularly well from a financial viewpoint under the Government of my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister? Does he further agree that the additional funds provided by the Government have enabled the Countryside Commission to plant more trees, which is particularly important to the people of Kent and my constituents who suffered considerably from the loss of trees as a result of the 1987 storms?
§ Mr. Heathcoat-AmoryMy hon. Friend is quite right. The chairman of the Countryside Commission has warmly welcomed the sharply increased funding that we plan for the years ahead. It will enable the Countryside Commission to undertake several new initiatives and to 574 continue the Task Force Trees programme, which will help to replace trees lost in the storms earlier this year, including in Kent.
§ Mr. Denis HowellIs the Minister aware that we join in welcoming the increased subvention for the Countryside Commission, but are still concerned about whether the money made available will enable us to make sufficient progress on access to the countryside and rights of way, an issue which was very properly identified in the White Paper but does not seem to be making much progress? We are also concerned about the continuing problems of common land. Will those two problems, which are of much concern to many people who use the countryside and who want access and rights of way, receive greater priority as a result of this and future settlements?
§ Mr. Heathcoat-AmoryI am glad that the right hon. Gentleman acknowledges that the Countryside Commission has done well under this Government. He mentioned the right of way network. I confirm that it is an announced aim of the Countryside Commission to bring into good order our entire network of rights of way—all 140,000 miles of it—by the end of the century. As regards common land, I refer the right hon. Gentleman to the statement that my hon. Friend the Minister made in recent weeks.
§ Mr. Bill WalkerMy hon. Friend will be aware that the Scottish headquarters of the Countryside Commission is in my constituency, not far from his Scottish home. He will realise that under the Prime Minister and this Government the Countryside Commission has been responsible for vast improvements in access to many of Scotland's more beautiful parts, with the introduction of car parking and other facilities such as camping and caravanning. That has been the result of the generous attitude adopted by the Prime Minister and the Government.
§ Mr. Heathcoat-AmoryI am delighted that Scotland is to get its own Nature Conservancy Council. I was sad, but not wholly surprised, that that was resisted every step of the way by the Labour party. Doubtless that attitude will have been noted in Scotland.