| Draft Chilterns Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty (Establishment of Conservation Board) Order 2004
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Mr. Bradshaw: To respond first to the hon. Member for North Wiltshire, the reasons for the change were outlined in the primary legislation back in 2000. I am sure that there was plenty of passion in those debates— Mr. Gray: Will the Minister give way? Mr. Bradshaw: No, not yet. Mr. Gray: On this point? Mr. Bradshaw: No, I want to make some progress and then I will give way to the hon. Gentleman. Mr. Gray: On a point of order, Mr. Illsley. AONBs were not discussed during the Committee proceedings on the Countryside and Rights of Way Bill. The Chairman: That is not a point of order for the Chair. It is a point for debate. Mr. Bradshaw: As the hon. Gentleman acknowledged when he identified the widespread support that these measures enjoy not only among his hon. Friends but among all the constituent local authorities, the reasons for the change are understood. I mentioned them briefly in my speech. The aim is to give a harder strategic edge to the AONB, to bring in a better and more efficient management structure and, hopefully, to give it a higher profile. The change will lead to the improvements that he and I, and most hon. Members here would like to see. In terms of powers to prevent various planning developments, the hon. Gentleman will know that there are no changes proposed to the planning powers of the AONB, but perhaps because we hope to give the board a stronger, more coherent and more independent voice than its constituent local authorities, it may speak more loudly. As he will be aware, the AONB has no planning role. One of his other fears was that this was a Trojan horse for the national parks, which have planning powers. We were explicit in the original legislation that that would not be the case here. The hon. Gentleman then asked about the board's marketing role. He is right that part of the role will be
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As I said in my original speech, the funding mechanism comes, as before, from the Countryside Agency. It is increasing from 75 to 80 per cent. because of the VAT issue that the hon. Gentleman also raised. I will come on to that in a second. The rest will come from the local authorities as it has up until now. The board, as he rightly pointed out, will be able to attract extra money from third parties. They may be regional development agencies, private sector companies or even the European Union. Again, the new board members have warmly welcomed that option, as have their constituent local authorities. There was a problem with VAT because these boards, unlike local authorities, do not have levying powers. The boards themselves are satisfied that the increased core funding from the Countryside Agency will more than make up for that shortfall. They are content with that. I am not quite sure where the hon. Gentleman got the 20 per cent. increase in funding from. I am not aware of that figure. There will be some initial set-up costs, but the Countryside Agency has assured us that it will fund those. In the overall scheme of things, the Conservatives' commitment to cutting DEFRA's budget by £140 million would probably result in a significant reduction in funding for both the Countryside Agency and the AONB boards. Mr. Gray: I will not respond to the rather silly point about cutting funds, which is completely untrue. The Minister asked where I got the figure of a 20 per cent. increase. It comes from a letter from Mr. Steve Rodrick, the Chilterns AONB officer dated 23 May. He writes:
The hon. Gentleman also raised the matter of representation. It has taken four and a half years to set up the boards and there has been a mammoth consultation with local authorities and parish councils. We have taken a bottom-up approach to AONBs and for the first time parish councils have guaranteed representation. I hope people will be reassured that the majority of seats on the board will Column Number: 15 be from a combination of parish councils and local authorities. Each local authority, including county councils, will have a seat each. If we were to give some authorities more seats than others, it would be problematical and make the boards extremely large. The solution we have come to is supported by the local authorities.Sue Doughty: I listened with interest to the Minister's point about the number of seats on the board. I have not studied the geography or the local authority boundaries, but was any consideration given to the effect of a disproportionate amount of land within one local authority? Is the area of outstanding natural beauty evenly spread across all the local authorities involved? Mr. Bradshaw: It is. Each local authority that has part of its area in the AONB has one representative, whether it is a district or a county. Sue Doughty: Do all the authorities share the AONB? Is it equally divided between them geographically? Mr. Bradshaw: No. The proposals divide the parish council representation into groups, because there are not enough parish council places on the board for every parish council to have one. Following lengthy consultation with the parish councils concerned, in one of the bodies allocation has been on a county-wide basis, so all the parishes in one county have one representative. In the other body, that was impossible because of the numbers, so places were allocated on another basis, but in full consultation with those involved. Jeremy Corbyn: What I cannot follow is what provision there is for the appointment of people from amenity organisations, such as ramblers' groups and so on, who equally have a legitimate interest in the area. Mr. Bradshaw: I was about to come to that matter, in response to a question from the hon. Member for Guildford (Sue Doughty) about the Secretary of State's appointees. There will be at least 40 per cent. from local authorities and at least 20 per cent. from parish councils. The remainder of members of the board will be appointed by the Secretary of State. They will include people who have a broader strategic interest in the issues raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Islington, North (Jeremy Corbyn) and the hon. Lady, for example, wildlife, nature conservation, rambling, education and access for young people. Places will be reserved for people who have a strategic and more general interest in the area. They will probably, but not necessarily, be from the area themselves. There are people with great expertise who may not live in the area but who would make a positive contribution to the board. Column Number: 16 Sue Doughty: On that last point, if someone from a local ramblers' organisation or wildlife trust, for example, had some expertise, would they be appointed as individuals or would the wildlife trust have the opportunity, should the need arise, to substitute an alternative member? Mr. Bradshaw: No, people will be appointed as individuals. We have already advertised and my office received a short list of names a few days ago. People will be appointed in their own right; they will not represent lobbies or interests. Their role is to represent all of the AONB and its interests. They will bring their expertise to the board and make a contribution in that way. Sue Doughty: In that case, if someone is appointed because they are a member of the local wildlife trust and bring with them that expertise, that is part of their qualification for acceptance. If they move away from the area and are no longer part of the local wildlife trust, the trust would lose its individual voice on the board. What arrangements will be in place to ensure that that loss of expertise will be replaced on the board? Mr. Bradshaw: My expectation is that the board and the Secretary of State, who would confirm any new appointment, would want to ensure that the breadth and variety of expertise on the board would be continued. It may not be possible to find someone of the same calibre from exactly the same organisation, but it is in the interests of the board and the Government that the board reflects the broad spectrum of expertise and concern for AONBs. Question put and agreed to. Resolved,
Draft Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (Establishment of Conservation Board) Order 2004 Motion made, and Question proposed,
Mr. Gray: On a point of order, Mr. Illsley. Could you kindly advise me? I had understood that there would now be a separate debate on the Cotswolds, in which case the Minister should not have moved the motion formally but in full, thus enabling us to respond.
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| ©Parliamentary copyright 2004 | Prepared 1 July 2004 |
