§ 2.39 p.m.
953§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government what decision they have reached regarding the provision of a second runway at Turnhouse Airport.
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE, SCOTTISH OFFICE (LORD POLWARTH)My Lords, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Scotland is considering the report of the public inquiry on this matter and will announce his decision as soon as possible.
§ LORD HOYMy Lords, while thanking the noble Lord for that Answer, may I ask him whether he realises how disappointing it is? This inquiry has been concluded for a very long time now and the second runway has been under negotiation for many years. Would the noble Lord tell your Lordships when it is expected that we shall get the result of the inquiry, which concluded a very long time ago?
§ LORD POLWARTHMy Lords, I should point out to your Lordships that the inquiry took 38 days, ending in February. The evidence led was very detailed and complex. The reporter submitted his report to my right honourable friend in September, and that report is being urgently considered by my right honourable friend. He will announce his decision as soon as possible, but I think it would be rash of me to try to forecast the date of that decision.
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, is the noble Lord aware that we agree with him that it would be rash to use the word "urgent", since it was in 1951, if I remember rightly, that I went to Turn-house and said that the runway was inadequate? Does he not think that in the intervening years there has been time to assess the needs there?
§ LORD POLWARTHMy Lords, I have been familiar with Turnhouse for about the same length of time as the noble Lord opposite. I would only say that, as frequent users of the services to and from Turnhouse, no one is more aware than my right honourable friend and I of the need for a speedy decision; but with a problem of this size and importance the first consideration must be that the decision reached should be 954 reached only after the most thorough study of all the factors involved.
§ LORD BALFOUR OF INCHRYEMy Lords, arising out of that answer, may I ask whether, if the Minister decides to go forward with this runway, we can have an assurance that the administrative machinery is now preparing to start work as soon as a positive decision is come to?
§ LORD POLWARTHMy Lords, I think that it would be wrong of me to anticipate an action by an outside body dependent on the outcome of this inquiry.
§ LORD BALFOUR OF INCHRYEMy Lords, how long will it be after a decision before work is likely to start?
§ LORD POLWARTHMy Lords, I think that is a matter for the authority concerned with the running of the airport.
§ LORD HOYMy Lords, inasmuch as this inquiry took some six months, so that the matter was all properly inquired into, and the Secretary of State has had the reporter's report for three months, surely it is not asking too much at this stage that the work should be gone ahead with?
§ LORD POLWARTHMy Lords, I should first point out that the Secretary of State has not had this report for three months; he received it in September. Secondly, the complexity of the report, arising from the length of the inquiry, means that the issues involved require correspondingly extensive examination before a decision is reached.
VISCOUNT MONCKMy Lords, would my noble friend be kind enough to inform me where Turnhouse is, or whether this is possibly a misprint for Foulness?