§ 2.39 p.m.
§ Viscount HANWORTHMy 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 they will try to dissuade the British Waterways Board from banning horse-drawn boats from the canals and waterways under the Board's control; and whether they agree that possible damage to tow-paths and inconvenience to other users is insufficient reason for such a ban.
§ Baroness STEDMANMy Lords, I understand that the British Waterways Board have not imposed a total ban on horse-drawn boats using their navigations but that they have decided not to licence any more than the seven boats which are already operating. Licensing of boats is a matter for the Board and it would not be appropriate for the Government to seek to dissuade them from any course of action which they consider appropriate in matters of day-to-day management. Nevertheless, my right honourable friend the Minister of State has written to the chairman of the Board questioning this policy and I am sending a copy of his letter to the noble Lord.
§ Viscount HANWORTHMy Lords, while thanking the Minister for that encouraging reply, may I ask her whether she would agree that we in this country have a great reverence for tradition, and 5 that the tradition of horses on the water-ways really goes back to the start of the waterways? Further, would she not think that if no further licences are to be issued, very shortly there will not be any horses anywhere, and would this not be the greatest of pities?
§ Baroness STEDMANMy Lords, I am sure the House will agree that these nostalgic links with the past ought to be retained in a few places where to do so might be feasible; but only seven boats are licensed at the moment on about 2,000 miles of waterway belonging to the Board, and I understand that they have not received any new application since 1974.
§ Lord MONSONMy Lords, would the Minister perhaps agree that it is not horses that harm the environment and inconvenience other canal users, but rather flat-bottomed craft fitted with outboard motors, which flagrantly exceed the statutory speed limits, thereby washing away the banks of the canals and driving away wildlife? Would she perhaps suggest to the British Waterways Board that, rather than horse-drawn boats and barges, it is this sort of behaviour that ought to be banned?
§ Baroness STEDMANMy Lords, that is another question. I will draw the attention of my right honourable friend to the comments made by the noble Lord.
§ Lord DAVIES of LEEKMy Lords, while my noble friend is drawing the problem of the canals to the attention of her right honourable friend, and since many of us concur with the supplementary question just asked, may I ask her whether she will endeavour to make her right honourable friend realise the value to Britain of these great canals, to see that they are used for transport, when some future Government with common sense works out a national transport policy which will use the canals for the benefit of Britain, as the canals are used in Europe?
§ Baroness STEDMANMy Lords, I am sure my right honourable friend is aware of the views expressed by my noble friend.