§ 30. Mr. Michael Fabricant (Lichfield)If the Commissioners will make recommendations to parochial church councils regarding the financing of mobile phone masts on Church property. [135365]
§ Mr. Stuart Bell (Second Church Estates Commissioner, representing the Church Commissioners)Welcome to your first Church Commissioners' Question Time, Mr. Speaker. It is a non-partisan Question Time, we are protected from on high, and you will enjoy it as much as we do.
The commissioners who, as the honourable Gentleman knows, are substantial property owners in their own right, are liaising on this matter with the Archbishops Council which, I am happy to say, is taking a lead on the matter.
18 The council is working on producing national-level guidance and advice on best practice which they believe will be of benefit to the parochial church councils.
§ Mr. FabricantIs the hon. Gentleman aware that the sight of mobile phone masts in rural areas, let alone in towns, is pretty abhorrent to most people? Is he also aware that a mobile phone antenna can be inserted into the top of a steeple internally so that it is not seen from the outside and can generate over £5,000 for the church concerned? When will the hon. Gentleman make recommendations to churches that their steeples be used for mobile phone masts, to hide them from the general public and generate money for the Church, thus scoring a double whammy?
§ Mr. BellThe Church will be grateful for that double whammy, which will allow it to render a public service to mobile phone operators, which need to cover 80 per cent. of the country, and perhaps also to gain revenue from that. The hon. Gentleman made the point even better than I can. The Church has taken a lead on the matter through the Archbishops Council and we are hopeful of positive results for parish churches throughout the land.
§ Mr. SpeakerI call Dr. Tonge.
§ Dr. Jenny Tonge (Richmond Park)Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker—[HON. MEMBERS: "Speaker!"] I am sorry, Mr. Speaker.
Will the hon. Gentleman tell us if he has any information on when the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions will publish the guidelines on mobile phone masts which were promised for the end of July this year?
§ Mr. BellI am always grateful to have questions to the Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and the Regions pushed on to me, and am happy to answer the hon. Lady. Eighty-seven per cent. of our country should be covered by mobile phone operators by October next year. The Church will play its part in assisting those schemes and I hope that it will do so in the interests of our people, our parishes and our churches.