Planning Bill

My Lords, I hardly need to be urged to thank my noble friend for the amendment. It is good that it is before us and I warmly welcome it. I should put on record my appreciation to all those in other parts of the House, and on this side, who spoke positively and warmly in support of what I sought to achieve. We should also put on record our appreciation of all those outside the House who made strong representations to the Minister. This is a good moment to take note of the fact that my noble friend Lady Andrews is an outstanding example of a Minister who listens. The way in which she facilitated meetings between me, the noble Lord, Lord Chorley, her officials and herself was very helpful and reassuring. Therefore, I have no qualifications whatever in saying thank you and in recommending the amendment to the House. Perhaps I may add a postscript. As I said in Committee, a courageous and tough battle was fought by those who established and won the case for the national parks in the post-war years. They are a treasure and a special asset for the whole nation. There should not be any doubt at any time that in everything that the Government are doing they must uphold what those who fought so courageously achieved. We must not allow the parks to drift into the position of being afterthoughts in governmental and administrative matters. We must also avoid a situation by which, through incremental steps, the national parks slip from being a special asset and become genteel suburban areas or theme parks. That is not what they are about. While they are, of course, places where people work and local communities matter, the government amendment puts a tremendous responsibility on the national park authorities to give constant, imaginative and visionary leadership on this matter and at no time must they leave anyone in doubt that they see themselves as the Praetorian guard of what the parks are there to achieve. I thank my noble friend for the amendment and I hope that no one will have any doubts about supporting it.