National Parks (Hansard, 23 November 1993)

§ 5. Ms Quin
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his Department's policy towards military activity in national parks.

§ Mr. Hanley
Use of national parks remains vital to our defence. They provide essential facilities that cannot be dispensed with and could not easily be replicated elsewhere.

§ Ms Quin
Is not it the case that only about 3 per cent. of national parks are in use for military activities at any one time, yet for the Northumberland national park the figure is 20 per cent? Does the Minister agree that that percentage should not be increased because if it were the character of the park would be greatly damaged?

§ Mr. Hanley
The hon. Lady is absolutely right that over 97 per cent. of national parks are not used by the Ministry of Defence. The 3 per cent. that we use is used efficiently and in an environmentally conscious manner. It is important that our troops are properly trained. About two thirds of the land that we use is used for live firing from time to time. I am conscious of the hon. Lady's interest, especially in the Otterburn range, and I can assure her that we will not increase our acquisition of national park land or use it more than is absolutely necessary.

§ Mr. Jenkin
Will my hon. Friend confirm that we are increasingly short of space in which to exercise our troops? May I especially draw his attention to the plight of the 24 Air Mobile Brigade, whose headquarters is based in my constituency, and whose airborne attack capability requires a large area in which to exercise? There is nowhere, not even Salisbury plain, where they can effectively exercise.

§ Mr. Hanley
I agree with my hon. Friend. The problem arises not just because of the shortage of land in Britain that is available for the training of our troops, but because the drawdown in Germany has resulted in the loss of valuable training grounds there. That has put additional pressure on the use of land within the United Kingdom. We continually look for appropriate sites for training because it is vital that our forces are properly trained to fulfil the roles for which almost the whole world is grateful.

§ Dr. Marek
Is the Minister aware that it is commonly perceived that military low flying is heavily concentrated in certain parts of the country? Are not some of the heaviest concentrations in our national parks? If that is the case, will the Minister publish information about how much military 314 low flying, in excess of the average, occurs in national parks? If that is not the case, will he publish information to show that?

§ Mr. Hanley
It is clearly more suitable that low flying occurs over areas of low population. During the six months that I have been in my post, I have answered almost 100 questions about low flying tabled by two of the hon. Gentleman's hon. Friends. I assure the hon. Gentleman that we are careful to take into account the disturbance caused by low flying. However, it is natural that areas of low population are used the most. The information on where low flying occurs is published on a map that I recently placed in the Library.