Major Millssaked the right hon. and gallant Member for Rye, as representing the Forestry Commissioners, what objects the Commissioners had in view in summoning the informal conference which 1541W took place at Lyndhurst on 4th November; what proposals were laid before it and what decisions were arrived at; if there was any reason why the New Forest Association, which comprises in its membership a large number of commoners and other people interested in the preservation of the amenities of the New Forest, was not invited to send representatives although representatives were invited from the county borough of Bournemouth, the boundaries of which ate nowhere contiguous with those of the New Forest; and whether it was an oversight that no invitation to attend was sent to the hon. and gallant Member for the New Forest and Christchurch Division?
§ Colonel RopnerThe object of the informal conference at Lyndhurst on the 4th November was to discuss the coordination of town planning in the vicinity of the New Forest with the maintenance of the unique character of the Forest itself. No definite proposals were laid before the conference.
It was decided that the Ministry of Health should invite the planning officers of the local authorities concerned to consider and report on the various planning proposals from the point of view of maintaining the character of the Forest. The conference was restricted to official bodies and the New Forest Advisory Committee on which the New Forest Association is represented.
It was not considered necessary to occupy the time of Members of Parliament with an informal conference of this kind, and the Forestry Commissioners trust that neither the hon. and gallant Member for the New Forest and Christchurch Division (Major Mills) nor other Members for the areas concerned will feel that they have been overlooked in any way.