§ 2.39 p.m.
§ LORD AMULREEMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the second Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether it is the policy of the Ministry of Public Building and Works to use the St. James's Palace sub-depôt in Kensington Gardens as a dump for old lamp-posts and worn-out metal fencing. If this is not so, whether these could not in future be placed in some less conspicuous and popular place.]
558EARL JELLICOEMy Lords, the area in question has been used in this way in connection with the Park Lane Improvement Scheme. But this was a temporary and exceptional measure. My right honourable friend the Minister of Public Building and Works intends to clear the area completely this spring. Tenders will shortly be invited for the sale of the old gas lamps, and the remainder of the material will also be sold in the near future. Thereafter, no more items will be stored there and the Ministry's depôt will be in the adjoining magazine buildings. As a result, the present depôt yard will be considerably reduced in size, and the surplus land returned to the Park.
§ LORD AMULREEMy Lords, I thank the noble Earl for that Answer to my Question. I am afraid that I have no supplementaries to put.
§ LORD MERRIVALEMy Lords, may I ask my noble friend whether, as he is keen that this area should be kept in proper order, he does not think it is now time for the rectangular-shaped pill-boxes which are to the front and rear of the main building to be removed, too?
EARL JELLICOEMy Lords, it is certainly the intention, as was implicit in my reply, that this area should be kept in proper order. I am not quite as intimately acquainted as my noble friend evidently is with the area, but I will look into the question of the pill-boxes which he has quite rightly brought to our attention.