HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS DEVELOPMENT BOARD AREA EXTENSION ORDER 1975

HL Deb 06 May 1975 vol 360 cc290-4

7.36 p.m.

Lord HUGHES rose to move, That the Highlands and Islands Development Board Area Extension Order 1975, laid before the House on 15th April, be approved. The noble Lord said: My Lords, I beg to move that the Statutory Instrument extending the area within and in relation to which the functions of the Highlands and Islands Development Board shall be exercised, which was laid before this House on 15th April 1975, be approved. The purpose of this Order is to add certain areas to the existing areas in relation to which the Highlands and Islands Development Board can exercise its functions. The areas to be included are the County of Nairn; the areas of Grantown-on-Spey and Croat-dale; and the Islands of Arran and Bute. In considering whether to extend the Board's area, my right honourable friend is required by Section I(2) of the 1965 Act to have regard to the character of the areas to be added and their proximity to the Board's existing area.

All the areas to be included satisfy these proximity and character qualifications. Nairn, or so it can be described, is basically lowland in character, lies close to Inverness and forms part of the continuous lowland area stretching round from Easter Ross. The area has closer economic ties with Inverness than with the North-East counties and Aberdeen to the East. The economic structure is characteristic of HIDB's region, being dependent on agriculture and fishing industries as the principle sources of employment. In addition there is a significant level of daily commuting to Inverness. It was for these reasons that the Wheatley Commission decided to recommend the inclusion of Nairn in the Highland Region, a recommendation which has been accepted; and for the same reasons we propose that it should be included in the Highlands and Islands Development Board's area.

The Wheatley Commission also recommended the inclusion of Cromdale and Grantown-on-Spey in the Highland Region. These areas are contiguous with the existing HIDB area and are Highland in character. Both areas are heavily dependent on agriculture and services, and the strong tourist component in their economy can be better developed within the HIDB area in conjunction with the existing Aviemore development. Arran and Bute, though both are islands, satisfy the proximity qualifications almost as closely as the contiguous areas. At the narrowest point of the Kyles, Bute is only a quarter of a mile distant from the mainland of Argyll, while Arran is only 3 miles distant from Kintyre. Both qualify on character grounds as islands sharing most of the problems of the islands within the existing HIDB area. They are very dependent on tourism and suffer from the problems of high seasonal unemployment during the winter. Both have experienced depopulation over the years. My Lords, I beg to move.

Moved, that the Highlands and Islands Development Board Area Extension Order 1975, laid before the House on 15th April, be approved.—(Lord Hughes.)

Lord CAMPBELL of CROY

My Lords, this also comes in the category described by the noble Lord as agreed policy between both sides of your Lordships' House. We for our part expected an Order making these extensions at this time to carry out adjustments when the local government boundaries were changing. These boundaries change on 16th May. I will comment on the specific changes. There has been some argument in the past about whether Nairn County, as it now is, and Nairn District in ten days' time, should become officially part of the Highlands. People in the area have been taking different views, but I think the position is now generally accepted.

One of the reasons which the noble Lord did not mention but which has had a considerable effect in the last 2 years is the great development on the Nairn-Inverness border—Dalcross and Ardersier, with huge oil platforms being built at Ardersier. This has had a great effect on these areas, as well as on Inverness. Nairn is much closer to the scene of these developments and the developments are also similar to those going on round the Cromarty Firth and elsewhere in the Highlands, and this has caused people to realise that this sort of development is shared by the nearby parts of the Highlands. The boundary is a very arbitrary one at the moment and these developments are taking place within half a mile of Nairnshire.

As regards Cromdale and Grantown—a district very near where I live—this is geographically part of Strathspey and in character akin to the district and the region which it is joining in 10 days' time. Again, there has been some dispute about this in the past, because the people of Cromdale and Grantown have had a very happy association with Moray for many years. I am glad to see the noble Lord, Lord Hoy, in his place. because I know that he knows that area, too, and that he will understand the understandable wrench that occurred some time ago when it was suggested that this area should be moved away from Moray and into the Highlands. It is now recognised that this makes sense from the point of view of geography, communications and the fact that the area is so similar to the surrounding Highland area. Then we come to the islands of Bute and Arran, and this is straightforward; the problem of these islands is similar to the problem of other islands off the West Coast which, because they are a bit to the North, have been in Argyll. These islands can be included in the Development Board's area, and this makes sense.

Lord HOY

My Lords, I had no intention of intervening at this point but I feel that I must do so, if only briefly, because I want to be a little less reticent than the noble Lord, Lord Campbell of Croy, and say to my noble friend how grateful I am that the Government have taken this action tonight. It is all very well for the noble Lord, Lord Campbell, to say that this had all been agreed and that we expected it. We expect a great many things in life, but we feel particularly grateful to people who make them a reality, and what my noble friend is doing tonight is to extend this Development Board into areas that have not so far been covered.

As one who, as the noble Lord, Lord Campbell, said—and I am grateful to him for saying it—spends weeks and perhaps more each year up in this area around Grantown-on-Spey, Nairn and elsewhere, I am grateful that these areas have been included. They have always felt left out and, living so near the edge of the Development Board area, they felt that they were suffering a disadvantage. As to the islands that are being included, obviously when one looks at them one sees that they were requiring assistance of a special kind. I am not going to say that what my, noble friend has proposed tonight will provide the solution to all their problems, but it is bound to represent a considerable step forward.

My only regret is that, while on occasions when we are debating Scottish affairs in your Lordships' House we have considerable numbers of Members on the Back-Benches, what is noticeable tonight is that those who claim to speak for Scotland are not here. I should have thought that, if only to say, "Thank you", they might have had the courtesy to come and say so. However, in their absence and on their behalf, I say to my noble friend, "Thank you very much indeed for bringing forward this Motion."

Lord HUGHES

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Campbell of Croy, and my noble friend Lord Hoy for their remarks. I do not have the same surprise that my noble friend had at the noble Lord's remarks, because so much of it was so closely connected with his career in another place that it might have sounded immodest if he had been too enthusiastic about these parts coming in, but I would have been totally astonished if I had heard any objection from him. We might have had a bigger attendance tonight, but for the fact that I suspect that the main debate which took place today was not of a character which gained the enthusiasm of noble Lords from the North of Scotland.

On Question, Motion agreed to.