§ 5.5 p.m.
§ LORD STRABOLGIMy Lords, I beg to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government if they will deny the disquieting rumour that it is proposed to demolish the Nash terraces around Regent's Park.]
§ THE MINISTER WITHOUT PORTFOLIO (LORD MANCROFT)My Lords, the rumour about the proposed demolition of the Nash terraces, to which the noble Lord refers, is clearly based on ignorance of the Regent's Park problem. The Committee under my noble friend Lord Gorell which considered the future of the twenty-three Regent's Park terraces recommended that two should be demolished, and contemplated that others might be. The terraces which they considered should at all costs be restored and preserved numbered seven or eight. The cost of preserving even this number would run into millions of pounds. The Board of Crown Estate Commissioners, since their appointment last December, have been considering this major problem but have not yet reached decisions on the future of the terraces when the leases fall in during the nineteen-sixties.
§ LORD STRABOLGIMy Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his reply. Arising out of it, may I ask him if he will give an assurance that no demolitions, if any are contemplated, will be started without the public first being informed of what is intended?
§ LORD MANCROFTYes, my Lords. The Crown Estates Commissioners have assured me that no major changes will be effected in any of the Nash terraces without the public being given full information well in advance.