HL Deb 24 June 1964 vol 259 cc192-4

2.43 p.m.

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 what action they will take regarding the view expressed in paragraphs 30 to 35 of the Annual Report of the Central Transport Consultative Committee that "there are a number of cases where stations could be converted to unstaffed halts rather than be closed down".]

THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT (LORD CHESHAM)

My Lords, I understand that the British Railways Board have sent the Central Transport Consultative Committee a statement of their policy in relation to unstaffed halts. I am told that the Committee discussed this at a recent meeting and regarded it as acceptable. There is therefore no need for any specific action by Her Majesty's Government. But in deciding whether to grant consent to a proposed railway passenger closure, my right honourable friend always bears in mind the possibility that stations for which there is a public need might be retained as unstaffed halts.

LORD STONHAM

My Lords, can I ask the noble Lord whether that means that the Railways Board, having satisfied the Central Transport Consultative Committee, have altered their policy?—because the Central Transport Consultative Committee devote nearly two pages of their Report to answering what they understood to be the Railways Board's policy last December which they regarded as quite unsatisfactory.

LORD CHESHAM

My Lords, I cannot, of course, speak directly for either, as the noble Lord knows. I have tried to find some information for him on this question, and understand that the Railways Board have replied in a memorandum to what is written in the Report of the Central Transport Consultative Committee who have found it acceptable.

LORD STONHAM

My Lords, I am grateful for that second answer, but may I ask the noble Lord this? Is he aware that almost every local authority in rural areas has put forward the suggestion for unstaffed halts instead of little-manned stations as helpful in making its line viable; but they do not get any kind of reply or satisfaction from the Railways Board? Can the noble Lord say how a local authority putting forward suggestions in this matter—and these are quite important to the people they represent—can get satisfaction in matters of this kind and can get to know, either from the noble Lord's Department or from some other authority, that its suggestions have been responsibly and carefully considered?

LORD CHESHAM

My Lords, I think that the noble Lord can take it that they are because, if he will look, for instance, at the lines west of Swansea, he will see that the Railways Board do in practice use, where appropriate, unstaffed halts. That particular instance is one example of where in the reshaping, as it were, of the service, they have created unmanned halts.

LORD STONHAM

My Lords, I agree with the noble Lord about the lines west of Swansea, and would ask him to congratulate his right honourable friend on the decision made in that area; but is he aware that the position is not, nor has it been, nearly so satisfactory in other areas? I can only hope, in view of this recommendation, that the position will improve in future.

LORD HAWKE

My Lords, will my noble friend make his right honourable friend aware that the general public will receive with a great deal of gratitude his statement that the British Railways are at last coming round to what always seemed to them the rather obvious point of saving administrative costs by having unstaffed halts?

LORD CHESHAM

My Lords, I am glad to hear that; but I must tell my noble friend that it is not quite so easy a matter as he and some members of the public believe.

LORD TAYLOR

My Lords, can the noble Lord say whether or not an unstaffed halt normally has a shelter on it?

LORD STONHAM

My Lords, surely the noble Lord opposite is aware that, so far as unstaffed halts are concerned, they replace former stations, and of course they have shelters on them. They are in fact in many cases the original stations without a staff.