My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend on the Front Bench on introducing this large Bill. I slightly disagree with the noble Baroness opposite that it is a jamboree bag: I think it is more like a large selection box. Bearing in mind that there is so much in it, I shall concentrate on just a couple of issues.
National parks are very important to many parts of the country, particularly to the north. There are large centres of population and going to visit the national parks is excellent. However, at the moment they do not quite live up to what they are supposed to do; they are slightly disappointing. If there is an idea that a national park is going to be something like the Serengeti or Yellowstone, I am afraid it is not like that. There was an excellent review by Julian Glover, the Glover review of protected landscapes, and a lot of issues were raised in that. The Government accepted some in their response, but not quite all. I just say to the Minister that when it comes to Committee, I will be raising these and looking at some amendments. There is a huge opportunity to deliver the Government’s own promises to uphold COP 15 commitments and to revitalise the protected landscapes for nature, climate and people. It was quite popular down the other end: a cross-party group of MPs thought it was a good idea and I am sure that the Government, on consideration, will realise that they were correct.
I would like to raise an issue, and I declare my interest as president of the Colne Valley Regional Park. This is a regional park that goes down the edge of the urban fringe of London, ranging roughly from Watford down to Spelthorne. It is a wide-ranging regional park that is facing increasingly frequent exploitation and is being used in very special circumstances. We have had to put up with HS2 and we may have to put up with Heathrow expansion. I would say to those who talk about HS2, “I would have gladly levelled up. You can have HS2 in the north. If you can just pick it up and take it, you are welcome to it”.
It has become a bit of a free-for-all in the Colne Valley. There is a loss of green belt. There are long-term benefits for communities if we can just get co-ordination. One of the problems for the Colne Valley Regional Park is that it straddles lots of local authorities and even lots of political constituencies. The other day, I had two honourable friends—Boris Johnson and Joy Morrissey. The fact is that there is a variety of MPs and a variety of local authorities, and there is no co-ordinated plan for how they can address these planning issues. We need to refocus the very way we look at planning green belts and other things, ensuring that there is conscious co-ordination across these county boundaries and giving proper consideration to mitigation. You look at some areas and think, “Actually, it’s not so important to us but it is to others”. In the London borough of Hillingdon, we value that immensely—Buckinghamshire possibly less so, but I do not want to be mean about Buckinghamshire because I want to get Buckinghamshire on our side.
There is one final thing that I think we should be looking at—again, it is something that was raised down the other end—and that is introducing something called “wild belt”. I say that because green belt, valued as it is, is often seen just as something that prevents urban sprawl. Then you look at brownfield, and some brownfield has more biodiversity than some greenfield. A wild belt designation would allow local authorities to understand where they can put development and where they should not. Again, that is something I will be hoping to raise in Committee. With that, I will say that I am really looking forward to the maiden speeches of the two new Members giving them and I say to them, “The House will be right behind you”.
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