§ LORD WISEMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the first Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether an estimate can be given as to the amount of the annual compensation, if any, which may fall to be paid to the Eastern Counties Bus Company by reason of the alteration of their road services due to the closing of railway stations and lines in Norfolk by the British Railways Board.]
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT (LORD LINDGREN)My Lords, payments by the Board to another party come within the sphere of management matters, and I am not therefore in a position to give an estimate.
§ LORD WISEMy Lords, while thanking my noble friend for that reply, may I ask, if compensation should be paid, whether he can state the basis of such compensation? Will it be present-day figures or figures which were given before the rail closures? Is it not possible to give some idea of what the compensation is likely to be?
§ LORD LINDGRENMy Lords, I am afraid that I could not give the basis for the compensation. That is a matter of negotiation between the Railways Board and the bus company. But the Railways Board stated in their 1963 Report that the total amount of compensation they paid during 1963 to bus companies was £92,600. As to the particular lines in which my noble friend appears to be interested, for Dereham—Wells-next-the- 418 Sea the compensation is £6,000 per annum, and for North Walsham—Mundesly-on-Sea it is £2,200 per annum.