Commons Committee recommends investigation of direct elections to the Broads Authority
The report of the Opposed Bill Committee which looked at the Broads Authority Bill was published on Thursday 26 July.
The Bill, whose primary purpose is to improve safety on the water, was deposited in Parliament on 27 November 2006, had a first reading on 23 January 2007 and a 2nd Reading Debate on 25 April 2007.
The Committee has recommended that the Bill should be allowed to proceed to the next stage with only minor changes. The Committee’s report has four recommendations.
1. That a clause concerning the licensing of volunteer rescue services (Clause 25) be removed. Defra had argued that the aims behind the Bill could be achieved by training and guidance.
2. A series of minor amendments, suggested by Defra, were accepted.
3. The Committee asked the Broads Authority and the national boating organisations to reflect on their legal agreement. The Authority is arranging to meet with representatives of the national and local boating organisations to make further progress in the light of the Committee’s comments.
4. Whilst the Committee is not suggesting any significant changes to the Bill it asks the Government to consider whether there should be direct elections to the Broads Authority on similar lines to those of the two Scottish National Parks, the Cairngorms and Loch Lomond and The Trossachs. The National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000 set out in its framework for the constitution for national parks in Scotland that a minimum of 20 per cent of members of the national park authority were to be elected in a poll by those on the local government electoral register within the park area.
In the 2nd Reading Debate on the Broads Authority Bill, Roger Williams, MP for Brecon and Radnorshire, advocated that “an element of national park committees - and, indeed, of the authority - could be directly elected.” In his view that would make the authority more directly accountable to the people who live and work in the area.
The Minister, in responding to this point, stated: “when the House considered the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 it chose specifically not to go down the route of direct elections to national park authorities. In my own experience of matters that are open to public election, what invariably tends to happen is that party politics congregate around that election and can introduce an element which would be wholly unwarranted in such a situation. That may not happen, but then again it may. It is my preference, and one that the House has expressed on previous occasions, not to allow direct elections.”
Kerry Turner, Chair of the Broads Authority stated: “The suggestion that there should be direct elections to the Broads Authority is an interesting one but there is not a close parallel with the Scottish national parks because of special characteristics of the Broads Authority and the very limited Executive Area it adminsters. It is worth noting that the Minister was not enthusiastic over the idea when it was raised in Parliament.
“I am delighted that all the main provisions of the Bill, for example Boat Standards (Boat Safety Scheme), General and Special Directions, Third Party Insurance, licensing of hire boats and the modernisation elements, have been endorsed by the Committee.
“The Authority can now continue to develop procedures and policies for the implementation of these key provisions which will be subject to consultation with the Navigation Committee as set out in the legal agreements with the Royal Yachting Association (RYA), the British Marine Federation (BMF) and the Inland Waterways Association (IWA).”
27/07/2007
