§ Mr. Hunterasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many, and what type of management agreements are currently being negotiated by the Nature Conservancy Council for the protection of sites of special scientific interest under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.
§ Mr. WaldegraveI am advised that approximately 150 management agreements are currently being negotiated by the Nature Conservancy Council. The great majority have arisen out of informal discussions with owners and occupiers of sites of special scientific interest during the renotification programme and contain both positive and negative elements designed to ensure conservation of what is of special interest while providing for compensation on the basis of profits forgone. A limited number of cases arise from objections by the Nature Conservancy Council to potentially damaging operations notified formally under section 28(5)(a) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
§ Mr. Hunterasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has as to how much money (a) the Nature Conservancy Council, (b) the Countryside Commission and (c) National park authorities have each spent on proven loss management agreements reached under sections 30, 41 and 50 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act.
§ Mr. WaldegraveThe Nature Conservancy Council has entered into 99 management agreements since the Wildlife and Countryside Act was passed at a cost of £322,105 in capital payments and £58,017 per annum in recurring payments. No payments have been made by the NCC under section 30 of the Act, which governs compensation where nature conservation orders have been made.
The Countryside Commission is not empowered to enter into management agreements, but a special fund by the commission was made available in 1983–84 to assist the first year costs of agreements concluded by national park authorities. To date, no mandatory agreements arising from section 41 of the Act have been negotiated by the authorities concerned, but the commission made payments of £57,350 from this fund in respect of a total of six voluntary agreements reached under section 39 of the Act. The overall cost to the national park authorities was £77,167.
§ Mr. Hunterasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he received in February and March concerning the operation of the "profits lost" compensation management agreements under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.
§ Mr. WaldegraveMy right hon. Friend has received representations from various quarters during the period in question, and in February I met members of the Friends of the Earth to discuss this and other matters. The representations received are in general critical of the principle of compensating owners and occupiers of land for forgoing operations which would prejudice conservation objectives. We are continuing to keep under review the working of the Act including the terms of the financial guidelines which relate to payments in connection with management agreements.
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§ Mr. Hunterasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received in the last three months concerning the operation of section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
§ Mr. WaldegraveCertain representations have been received, principally from the Nature Conservancy Council, the Friends of the Earth, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and the hon. Member for Wentworth (Mr. Hardy). These call for amendments to the section to prevent any damage occurring, during the three month period allowed under the Act for representations or objections, to proposed sites of special scientific interest. The Government are considering these proposals.