Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

I seem to have managed to insert Amendment No. 231A between the Liberal Front Bench and my own Front Bench. It states:"““In making appointments to the Commission, the Secretary of State shall have regard to the desirability of appointing at least one person who has considerable experience of, and has shown capacity in, the rural affairs of local authorities””." This follows on very well from the remarks just made by the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Exeter. In his earlier speech on Clause 17, he produced a lovely phrase about the Commission for Rural Communities ““turning invisible persons into visible persons””. I so enjoyed that phrase that it gives me pleasure to repeat it. When I hear that the chairman will be one of those people who has ““direct access to the Prime Minister””, as an ex-Chief Whip from the other place, I am never very convinced by that. Someone who has direct access to the Prime Minister is not really in the business of making invisible persons visible. For that reason I have put forward this amendment, which suggests that there should be one representative from the local authorities on the commission. As the Minister said in his previous speech, local authorities have a wealth of knowledge on this issue. I would like to see a pathfinder project. From my own involvement with the South Downs Joint Committee, I know that Hampshire is putting itself forward to manage the pathfinder project in Hampshire, if it can, and thus, with a great deal of determination, to bring together under one local authority roof the needs of the countryside, not just of farmers, and then trying to match those needs with help from local authorities themselves, partners such as the RSPB and the Environment Agency, and EU money. As we move forward with the CRC, it is important that this knowledge should not be lost, but should be used to the full. I therefore put down this amendment, which aims to provide a formal but modest supportive connection between local government and the new commission. As I have just said, local government has access to the evidence, skills and resources that could assist the commission in achieving its objectives. Through local democracy the ever-changing needs of rural communities are now monitored, and, through the same process, the public service responses can be championed. The job of the commission will be to advise the Government on the needs of the rural communities, and this proposed connection will provide local government with a continuing opportunity to make its wide knowledge available to the commission. I hope, therefore, that the Minister will consider this modest amendment favourably and I look forward very much to what she has to say.