CIVIL DEFENCE (SHELTER) (MAINTENANCE) REGULATIONS, 1956 (Hansard, 22 March 1956)

§ LORD MANCROFT

My Lords, these Regulations are also simple in form and do not call for much explanation. They confer on local authorities the function of maintaining air raid shelters provided by them in the last war for the public at large and for people in or near their 739 own homes. After the war, demolition of shelters went ahead quickly in those areas where labour was available, but more slowly elsewhere. This continued until 1948 when, in the light of the worsening international situation, the Government of the day decided that demolition should cease. Since then the policy has been to retain as many as possible of the remaining shelters and the local authorities responsible have been carrying out the necessary maintenance work. The presentation of regulations relating to maintenance at this time is not prompted by a desire to make any change in the existing policy or practice. The sole purpose of these Regulations is to provide statutory cover for the payment of grant on expenditure incurred by local authorities on maintenance work. There has been no such cover since the Civil Defence (Grant) Regulations, 1953, came into force, but necessary maintenance work has continued and grant on an extra-statutory basis has been paid to local authorities.

It is solely to put these payments on to a proper statutory basis that the Regulations have been drafted. If they are approved by your Lordships, local authorities will not for the time being be asked to make any departure from the existing practice, which is to restrict maintenance to work which is essential to keep the structures from becoming insanitary or in any other way dangerous because of some defects. The cost of doing this necessary minimum of work has been, land will be, very small. The Regulations therefore have a very limited purpose and a very limited significance in the field of civil defence policy. They do not represent any new development in civil defence policy, and concern only those shelters which remain over since the war. I beg to move that these Regulations be approved.