§ Mr. ReedTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make a statement on the ecclesiastical exemption from listed building and conservation area controls. [68601]
§ Mr. Alan HowarthMy Department and that of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales have now completed a programme of discussions with denominations and other organisations to consider the recommendations in Mr. John Newman's review of the exemption. I am today placing in the Libraries of the House a document which gives details of the changes in denominations' procedures agreed in the course of the discussions. Copies will be circulated to interested bodies.
Against this background my right hon. Friend and I are satisfied that the six denominations which currently enjoy the ecclesiastical exemption should retain it for the time being. This includes the Baptist Union, which Mr. Newman recommended should be the subject of a further review after a year and whose internal procedures have therefore been re-examined by the two Departments. We would envisage a further review of the exemption regime as a whole during the life of this Parliament. Meanwhile we look to the denominations to keep up the momentum of change as required and expect to see substantive progress in all areas where the need for further work has been identified.
We have also reviewed the position regarding the various categories of building (such as those within Church of England peculiars) which at the time of the 1994 reform were outside the scope of the relevant denomination's own procedures and which retained exemption on an interim basis pending satisfactory long-term arrangements. Action is in hand within the 324W denominations to establish such arrangements and the Government want to see these brought fully into effect as a matter of urgency. The Government aim shortly to consult on a draft amendment to the Ecclesiastical Exemption (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Order 1994, the effect of which will be to remove the exemption from any ecclesiastical building not fully covered by an appropriate control procedure and place it under normal secular controls.
The booklet "The Ecclesiastical Exemption—What it is and how it works" will be revised to take account of these developments and reissued during 1999.