HL Deb 01 May 1963 vol 249 cc177-9
LORD STONHAM

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will endorse the unanimous recommendation of the Transport Users' Consultative Committee that a passenger train service to Porthcawl be maintained for the summer period.]

LORD CHESHAM

My Lords, as my right honourable friend has recently informed the noble Lord, he is studying the Committee's recommendation. This closure proposal raises many issues, as the noble Lord is a ware. It is important that no decision should be reached until they have been fully examined. But I can assure your Lordships that, whatever decision is reached, it will not affect the services this summer.

LORD STONHAM

My Lords, while thanking the noble Lord for the last part of his Answer, which will at least give some relief for this busy seaside town, I would ask whether he is aware that his right honourable friend has been considering this proposal carefully for the last nine months since he received the unanimous recommendation of the Transport Users' Consultative Committee? Can the noble Lord say whether the important considerations now being considered arises from the damping-down policy in the Beeching Report, which decrees that Britons who want holidays must have them abroad because they cannot have them here through British Railways?

LORD CHESHAM

My Lords, as the noble Lord knows, there are a number of important considerations on this matter of the Porthcawl line which my right honourable friend must fully con-skier, even if he does not arrive at a conclusion at a speed great enough to please the noble Lord. He must consider these things very fully and very properly.

LORD CHAMPION

My Lords, as the noble Lord's right honourable friend has taken nine months to consider this decision, will the noble Lord urge upon his right honourable friend to continue to consider it for nine years as against nine months?

LORD CHESHAM

My Lords, I am becoming a little baffled by this nine months' business: I did not think it was nine months.

LORD STONHAM

My Lords, can I help the noble Lord? The Consultative Committee considered this case twelve months ago, on April 30 last year. Their recommendation did not reach the Minister until July. It is certainly nine months ago.

LORD CHESHAM

My Lords, I will not argue with the noble Lord about that, any more than I will respond to the suggestion of the noble Lord, Lord Champion.

LORD OGMORE

My Lords, as this town is seven miles from my home town, and I know it very well, may I ask the noble Lord whether he will represent to his right honourable friend that it is most important that this line be kept, whether the consideration is over nine months or nine weeks? Is it not a fact that it is only five miles from one of the few railway lines to be preserved in Wales under the Beeching Plan; and that, since the roads from the West are most inadequate to take summer traffic, even under the present situation, it will be most dangerous if this line is not continued?

LORD CHESHAM

I can tell the noble Lord that those are representations which have been made to my right honourable friend and which he is considering.

EARL ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGH

My Lords, could we ask whether, on this Welsh matter, there was any consultation with Lord Brecon? Do they know that 42 stations are being closed in Brecon and Radnorshire?

LORD CFIESHAM

My Lords, I think the second part of the noble Earl's question, raises a somewhat wider issue; but my right honourable friend is consulting with the Minister for Welsh Affairs.

LORD STONHAM

Is the noble Lord aware how uneasy this kind of thing makes the local authorities who may have to go before a Transport Consultative Committee? This is a case where there has been a favourable recommendation and the Minister has not endorsed it. What chance do they think they have if he sits on a thing for nine months and is still unable to give a favourable response to a strong recommendation?

LORD CHESHAM

My Lords, I still think it is more important for him to arrive at a right decision than at a quick decision.

A NOBLE LORD

Why have Transport Consultative Committees at all?