§ Mr. Clifton-BrownTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to her answer of 9 June 2003,Official Report, column 579W, how many parishes in the proposed Cotswolds Conservation Board fall within the Cotswold district council area; what the total number of parishes within the Board's area is; and whether the proposed eight groupings reflect the proportion between the two. [120865]
§ Mr. BradshawAll parishes that are in part or totally within the boundaries of the Cotswolds AONB would contribute to appointing the 8 parish members to the proposed Cotswolds AONB Conservation Board. At the moment we understand that 309 parishes will qualify.
There are 103 parishes that will be covered by the Board and are within the Cotswold district council administrative area. This equates to roughly one third of the total number of parishes covered by the Board. Cotswold district council parishes are shared between four of the eight regional groupings that would appoint parish members to a Cotswolds Conservation Board. In these groupings, they are in the majority in two, and are significantly represented in the other two.
Therefore, it is likely that between two and four parish appointees to the Board coming from Cotswold district council parishes. Cotswold district council parishes could have between 25 per cent. and 50 per cent. of the parish appointments. However, it must be emphasized that the intention is that a parish appointee will represent Cotswold AONB parishes in general, not just their parish or their regional grouping.