LOCAL AUTHORITIES (HISTORIC BUILDINGS) BILL (Hansard, 12 July 1962)

THE DUKE OF ATHOLL

My Lords, I beg to move that this Report be now received. Before this Question is formally put, I should like to say a few words relating to the question of parish councils which we discussed on the Committee stage. My noble friend Lord Colville of Culross, who told me that he will not, unfortunately, be able to be here to-day, put down an Amendment on the Committee stage that this Bill should be extended to parish councils. When I asked your Lordships to reject this Amendment the noble Lord, Lord Morrison of Lambeth, suggested that while he saw fully the force of my argument for rejecting that particular Amendment, it might be useful to have written into the Bill that parish councils had the right to be consulted about which buildings should or should not receive grants. I promised to look into this question, and I have done so. On due reflection I came to the conclusion that it would be unwise to put any such provision into this Bill, for the following reasons.

Under the Town and Country Planning Act, 1947, the parish councils can, and frequently do, make representations to larger local authorities about the historic buildings in their particular parishes. The consultation might have been written in in another way: that it should be compulsory for the district or county council to consult with the parish council before it gives a grant. This would have led to an intolerable delay, because although some parish councils are most active, and although by Statute every parish council in the country is supposed to meet quarterly, even If this Statute is observed (and there are certain reasons for thinking that some parish councils do not 389 observe it), there could very frequently be a rather long delay before the district council or county council would be able to give the grant.

Thirdly, my Lords, applicants for grants or loans will be asked to give fairly confidential information about the state of the building for which they want the grant, and about their own finances. And whereas one is probably prepared to give this sort of information to a fairly large and remote body, I think that quite a few people would find it objectionable to give it to their nearest neighbours who are, on the whole, the members of their parish councils. Fourthly, some local authorities, somewhat anticipating your Lordships' pleasure on this Bill, have already agreed, I understand, to give grants in certain cases and it would cause them great difficulty if the Bill was unduly delayed. I hope that your Lordships will feel that it would be undesirable to jeopardise the passage of this Bill by such a dubious advantage as any mention of "consultation with parish councils" would be. Therefore, I trust that you will agree to the Motion that this Report be now received, which I have pleasure in moving.