VISCOUNT ST. DAVIDSMy 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 they wish British Waterways to make agreements by which local authorities help them financially, and what action is to be taken on the twenty or so such agreements in progress but now frozen as a result of the recent announcement of the abolition of British Waterways.]
§ LORD SANDFORDYes, my Lords, it is indeed the wish of Her Majesty's Government and of the British Waterways Board not only that such negotiations with local authorities should continue but also that agreements should be concluded as soon as possible.
VISCOUNT ST. DAVIDSMy Lords, is the noble Lord aware that this is a short-term matter, and not a long-term matter such as we have been discussing 1264 on previous Questions, and that therefore something needs to be done now? Is he aware that there are some twenty or more of these negotiations going through between local authorities, individual groups and the British Waterways Board, and that all these negotiations are frozen solid by this sudden announcement? Will the Government issue to these people an authoritative statement to the effect that the Government are keen that these agreements should continue and that these negotiations should not be frozen for a matter of years?
§ LORD SANDFORDMy Lords, I have just said that we are keen to see all these agreements continued and, if possible, concluded. My information is that negotiations of this kind are going on with 37 local authorities in respect of 11 stretches of remainder waterway; and if anything I have said as a result of being asked this Question by the noble Viscount helps to reassure authorities, so much the better.
§ LORD DAVIES OF LEEKMy Lords, will the noble Lord please assure the House that the growing number of canal users who can afford little boats, and who, in this neophiliac age, love the peace and serenity of the canal hedgerows and the quiet, will also be drawn in, because of the immense therapeutic value of the canals to people living in a cacophonous country to-day?
§ LORD SANDFORDYes, my Lords. I can assure the House that these people do not need drawing in; they are there already.