§ Sir J. PYBUSasked the Minister of Transport (1) whether he will at once reassure local authorities that they will rank equally for a grant in respect of bridges even if they prefer to submit their designs, not to the Royal Fine Arts Commission, but to some other acknowledged body of architectural or engineering experts;
(2) whether, before urging highway authorities in Great Britain to seek the advice of the Royal Fine Arts Commission as to whether new or reconstructed bridges are of pleasing design and suitable to their surroundings, he has taken cognisance of the fact that, when the London County Council adopted this course and submitted a design for a new Waterloo Bridge by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, his then colleague on the Royal Fine Arts Commission, Sir Reginald Blomfield, strongly opposed the scheme on the ground of ugliness and unsuitability for its immediate environment and the neighbourhood of Somerset House?
§ Mr. HORE-BELISHALocal authorities require, so far as I am aware, no reassurance in this matter. I have every reason to believe that they are most anxious to co-operate in securing the highest attainable standards. I am not, of course, concerned with individual differences of opinion, if such arise, about matters of taste, but I am anxious that questions of architectural design and suitability of the surroundings, which are matters of special importance in the case of road bridges, should receive the most, careful consideration, and a reference to the Royal Fine Arts Commission seems to me appropriate and reasonable.