§ Mr. Christopher Fraser (Mid-Dorset and North Poole)I am pleased to have the opportunity to present a petition, the signatures for which have been collected by my constituent, Mr. James Selby Bennett, since last Saturday in the Purbeck district council area of my constituency. The petition says:
Purbeck's position is unique due to its contribution to the nation's needs for oil, minerals, tourism and the Army's only tank training centre. Purbeck receives no additional recompense for this contribution. Purbeck is also an area of unusual geography, which in turn produces an environment of extraordinary rarity and fragility. For several decades the need to improve the single dangerous road access to Purbeck has been recognised but has been put off pending a large development which was intended to fund it. Now road access rectification has been prevented by the environmental designation of a small part of the route alongside a railway.
The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons calls on the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions to
1. achieve a balance between the conservation issues and the safety and environmental damage to the Purbeck community, and
2. ensure that this balance is struck by our own Government and not delegated to the commission of the European Union.
I share my constituents' view that this is a matter to be decided by our British Government. Almost 1,500 signatures have been collected since Saturday in a small area of my constituency.
To lie upon the Table.