§ PART III.
§ JOINT ADVISORY COMMITTEES.
§ 1. Any two or more local planning authorities may, with the approval of the Minister, concur in establishing a joint advisory committee for the purpose of advising those authorities as to the preparation of development plans and generally as to the planning of development in their areas; and any such committee shall be constituted in such manner as may be determined by the authorities by whom it is established:
§ Provided that a majority of the members of any such committee shall be members of one or other of those authorities.
§
LORD CARRINGTON moved to add at the end of the proviso to paragraph 1 of Part III:
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and where the area of any one or more of those authorities comprises agricultural land at least, one of the members shall have knowledge of and experience in agriculture.
The noble Lord said: The purpose of this Amendment is to ensure that people with a proper connexion with agriculture should have a say in the planning and development of their area. Too often in the past the needs and interests of agriculture have been ignored, and as a result a good deal of excellent farming land has been wasted. I realize that, strictly speaking, this is the job of the rural land utilization officers, but these officers are few and far between, and they have not the knowledge of local conditions which is desirable. In addition, they would, presumably, be sitting on the committee as officials of the Ministry, only in an advisory capacity. In most cases the county council would probably put on the committee one of their members who has a knowledge of agriculture. My Amendment does not in any way preclude them from doing so, but I feel that it would be better perhaps if somebody from the county executive agricultural committee could be appointed. I hope the Government will be able to accept this Amendment, as it seems to me to be an excellent safeguard against the wastage of good agricultural land. I beg to move.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 130, line 22, at end, insert the said words.—(Lord Carrington.)
§ LORD HENDERSONI have a good deal of sympathy with the purpose which the noble Lord has in mind, but as the noble Lord is aware, only a bare majority of the members of the joint planning committee must be members of the local planning authorities which establish the committee. The remainder will be co-opted members. It is desirable to leave the composition of the committees so far as possible to the discretion of the authorities establishing them. It would be carrying central control too far if the composition of the committees were to be laid down in the Bill. In view of its recognized importance, there is surely no reason to expect that agriculture would be overlooked. If there were any danger of representatives of agriculture being excluded in a particular case, we can be certain that the Minister would, in the first instance, take the matter up informally with the constituent authorities. If it became necessary, paragraphs 2 and 30 3 of Part III of the Schedule enable him to take action to see that the position is put right. In these circumstances, I hope the noble Lord will not press his Amendment.
§ LORD CARRINGTONI really do not see why the noble Lord, if he agrees with me so much, cannot accept the Amendment. I do not think it is over-centralization to say that in any area which comprises agricultural land, one of the members shall have knowledge and experience of agriculture. But I do not want to press the Amendment, and if the noble Lord assures me that agriculture will be looked after in this respect, I beg leave to withdraw my Amendment.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
§ First Schedule agreed to.
§ Second Schedule: