HL Deb 04 March 1970 vol 308 cc326-7
LORD HAWKE

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, in view of the divided and uncertain responsibility for repair of the damaged weir at Stratford on Avon, they will cause the Army to carry out repairs under the Military Aid to the Civic Community Programme.]

THE LORD PRIVY SEAL (LORD SHACKLETON)

My Lords, this is essentially a matter for decision locally. The use of military resources has been considered, but I am advised that, subject to the Severn River Authority's consent to works on main river, the Borough Council have other arrangements in hand to restore the river level.

LORD HAWKE

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his reply. I am glad to hear that this little local difficulty is being resolved. But will Her Majesty's Government remember that they should give every opportunity for military aid to be practised to the civil community if it is to flourish?

LORD SHACKLETON

My Lords, the conditions under which tasks are carried out by the Services for civil authorities, other than in natural disasters, require that the work must be of social value to the community; it must be of training value, and must be undertaken by invitation and with the written agreement of the civil authority directly concerned. There are a number of other conditions also. In this case no request for assistance has been received, and I doubt very much whether, if one were received, it could meet the time-scale. We have been, as in yesterday's debate, continually adjured to let local authorities get on with the business, and told that the Government should not tell them what to do.

LORD STONHAM

My Lords, is my noble friend aware that in recent years prisoners in local prisons received an invitation and did invaluable work on the Stratford Canal? Has any invitation been issued on this occasion, and has thought been given to the employment of prisoners in this way?

LORD SHACKLETON

My Lords, I was not aware of that fact, but I do not think it affects my answer, which is that the local councils are themselves the best people to decide how to deal with something which is essentially an amenity question, rather than a drainage question, and means raising the level of the Avon so that the swans look appropriate to the tourists.