Debate on the Address

Debate between Victoria Prentis and Cheryl Gillan

Monday 14th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Dame Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Glasgow North (Patrick Grady). I am not sure that I found much in his speech that I could agree with, but I think he welcomed the provisions on animal welfare that were mentioned in the Queen’s Speech, so I will leave it there and say that I was on his side on that, because I welcome that provision.

I echo other colleagues’ praise of my hon. Friends the Members for North East Derbyshire (Lee Rowley) and for Truro and Falmouth (Sarah Newton), who proposed and seconded the motion on the Gracious Speech delightfully. I welcome the Queen’s Speech, even though it was delivered against the extraordinary background of the Supreme Court ordering MPs to return to Westminster and to go back to work, and of what everybody acknowledges is a potentially impending general election. In this time of division and dispute, it was so heartening to see Her Majesty the Queen preside over the proceedings in the other place and once again set us a fine example with her selfless service to our country.

I wish to welcome some of the provisions in the Queen’s Speech individually. The provisions on the NHS are excellent, particularly the plans to establish an independent body to investigate serious healthcare incidents. That has long been advocated by the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee—it just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?—on which I have the privilege to serve. I hope that that body will enable people to gain justice if there have been failures in our medical system, and also that we will learn from those mistakes—that is so important.

I hope we can strengthen the NHS in respect of how we make services available to people with autism. I would particularly like to see mandatory training introduced for all health and care staff, as recommended in the 10-year review of the Autism Act 2009 produced on a cross-party basis by the all-party group on autism. That would be a welcome measure for any NHS Bill.

As far as I am concerned, the environmental measures on air and water quality cannot be implemented too soon. We need to protect and restore habitats so that biodiversity is maintained.

I am now going to turn into my grandmother, because I have to tell the House, “I told you so.” In drawing up this speech, I looked at my maiden speech from back in 1992, in which I said:

“The Government must encourage United Kingdom industry to seize the chance of a more efficient use of energy, better emission controls, and a whole raft of subjects connected with using more environmentally friendly technologies. Not only is that an essential component of a modern environmental protection plan, but commercial gain could be made from it for small and large companies.”—[Official Report, 25 June 1992; Vol. 210, c. 438.]

Indeed, a large part of my maiden speech was about the environment and the Rio conference, which of course followed on from Helsinki and really kick-started the concentration of efforts on climate change.

In that context, I hope that the excellent Glover landscape review, which has recommended that the Chilterns area of outstanding natural beauty become a national park, will be progressed without delay. In fact, I was the first person to suggest that option, to add a layer of protection to the threatened and fragile landscape in the Chilterns. I wrote around to all colleagues whose constituencies impinge upon the AONB, and to local authorities, and received a mainly positive response. The development that is proposed in Buckinghamshire and London will overwhelm this precious part of our environment and, I fear, will destroy forever the rare chalk streams that runs through our hills, unless we can provide an oasis of protected landscape. I again turn into my grandmother, because back at the time of my maiden speech I was in talks with the National Rivers Authority about protecting the chalk streams and the fact that they had dried up. That resulted in bed-lining trials. I am very worried that all these years later we are still talking about their protection and their potential total annihilation.

Of course, HS2 is also currently destroying our environment. I think everybody in the Chamber knew I would get around to this sooner or later—there is no surprise among those on the Front Bench. I really do welcome the Oakervee review, but I despair of the rationale, the exorbitant and profligate cost, the poor governance and the disastrous management of the project.

First, and immediately, I ask the Secretary of State for Transport to stop the roadworks due to begin tomorrow in Missenden. They are going to cause untold upset to my local community and its residents and businesses. I was talking to people in the village on Saturday, and the feeling is so strong that I wish the Secretary of State could go there himself and at least stop the works until the review reports. What is the point in causing disruption for a matter of a few weeks? A few weeks would make all the difference to that community. If phase 1 is cancelled, we would not have to face the disruption that is going to start from tomorrow and continue until the end of the review. Even now, after 10 years of poor communication and the disdain shown by HS2 Ltd towards my local community, I really do have to ask whose bright idea it was to cause this huge disruption in my locality in what is effectively starting to be the run-up to Christmas, which should be good for all the shops and businesses in Missenden. If access becomes difficult, it will affect their profitability. I encourage everybody in the House to come to Great Missenden—it is easily reached on the train—and to spend their pounds in the shops there. They will need the House’s help if HS2 goes ahead.

This weekend, there were reports about the treatment of whistleblowers, who were allegedly exhorted to destroy material that may compromise HS2. The statement from HS2 Ltd that it would not release documents requested by a Dr Thornton—I believe—because if they came into the public domain they could be used by critics successfully to lobby for the cancellation of the project, is an appalling turn of events.

[Victoria Prentis (Banbury) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend has for many years been a great leader to those of us on the Government Benches who oppose HS2. Did she hear over the weekend the press reports that the Serious Fraud Office has been called in to investigate allegations of corruption in HS2?

[Dame Cheryl Gillan]

I cannot stand that story up, other than to say that I have read the reports in the newspapers that say the SFO is investigating aspects of HS2. It would be interesting if those on the Front Bench could confirm that. I do not believe everything I read in the press, but it really would not surprise me, because this is a project that managed to give away £1.7 million of unauthorised redundancy money. Nobody was held to account for that and the money has not been paid back, so nothing would surprise me, although I stress that it was a press report.

High Speed Rail (London – West Midlands) Bill

Debate between Victoria Prentis and Cheryl Gillan

Wednesday 23rd March 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Gillan]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely correct. Perhaps that shows the scale of the battle that has been going on for six years, in which people are trying to defend their environment and locality or, if they cannot have the whole project cancelled, at least to get the best possible deal for their locality.

[Victoria Prentis (Banbury) (Con)]

In my constituency, we have had significant problems in engaging with HS2—and not just me as the Member of Parliament; the county council and the district council have simply not had their letters answered. That gives us no assurance that HS2 will engage in a timely fashion with those who have to use the roads every day.

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[Mrs Gillan]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, and grateful for the support that I have received from colleagues across the piece.

On new clause 3, there is currently no information on how the funds will be divided, which areas will be prioritised or how the money could be spent. There is also no clarification of whether, for example, the funds to be allocated will include the moneys already allocated to the Colne valley. Will those come out of this funding envelope? There has been a suggestion that the money will be delivered locally through local enterprise partnerships, but that would be most unsuitable. In Buckinghamshire, for example, we have two overlapping LEPs. How would the money be administered? I think it should be kept separate from the LEPs and genuinely given to local groups so that they can decide how best to distribute the funds. I urge the Minister both to increase the funds and to provide further details on how they will be administered.

The last new clause to which I shall speak in this group is new clause 4, which deals with compensation. All the MPs who have constituencies along the route will know that compensation issues have caused great worry and stress to our constituents, and many of the recommendations of the HS2 hybrid Bill Select Committee, although welcome, have yet to translate into changes to the schemes. The Select Committee’s report in February 2016 stated that

“the Government said that it would work to implement a revised process for the valuation of properties for ‘Need to Sell’ that will allow more local valuers to be used”.

That review was promised for autumn last year, but we are still waiting.

The Department for Transport’s response to the Select Committee report is silent on the valuation point, and although a response was promised before Third Reading, when I last looked I had not yet received that. I may be wrong—HS2 tends to slip out its documents just in time for debates, which I think is poor practice. In this case such poor practice is affecting people’s lives. Implementing a fair valuation process for property owners who are receiving unacceptably low offers from HS2 is of paramount importance.

I still have a large number of constituents who have been negotiating with HS2 for months to get a fair price for their property, and I know from colleagues that it is a similar story up and down the route. I have been appalled at the treatment of individuals, who have had to employ expensive lawyers even to get timely and rational answers from those employed by HS2 or from HS2 itself. My colleagues and I have raised these points for years, yet there continues to be a litany of errors from HS2. There have been internal emails that are rude and disrespectful about constituents. The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee report published earlier today refers to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman report, which accused HS2 of being guilty of maladministration. I believe that that has characterised the way in which HS2 has dealt with people who have lost their houses, their businesses and their land.

[Victoria Prentis]

One of my greatest concerns about going forward without the Select Committee, which has been of enormous help to those of us whose constituents have been affected, is that there is nobody to help us mediate with HS2 Ltd and to encourage the company to respond to us in a timely fashion. There is no transparency about the way it does business. Does my right hon. Friend have any ideas to help us with this?

[Mrs Gillan]

The hon. Member for Middlesbrough (Andy McDonald) said today from the Opposition Dispatch Box that transparency would be the watchword for HS2. I agree with my hon. Friend—transparency has not been the watchword for HS2. Right from the beginning, when the Major Projects Authority’s reports were withheld from this House and from the Select Committee that considered the Bill, there has been the reverse of transparency. That is what is so distressing about this project; it could have been handled so much better. It has let many people down.

Finally—I know that others want to speak—new clause 4 is designed to ensure that valuers with local knowledge are included on the HS2 panel, and that all compensation applications are responded to substantively within 10 weeks to avoid long periods of uncertainty for property owners on the route.

I started by saying that I was disappointed that the Minister dismissed my amendments before even hearing what I had to say today, so I am not expecting any positive response. But I have learned always to walk in hope, even on the impossible project of HS2, and I invite the Minister to accept my amendments today and add them to the Bill, thereby showing that he has the respect that I believe this House should have for the people whose lives are affected so drastically by HS2.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mrs Gillan]

I again thank the Minister for that clarification.

[Victoria Prentis]

I am very concerned about the protection of ancient pastureland. In one particularly egregious case in my constituency, HS2 Ltd suggested that it replace ancient woodland on ancient pastureland, which is even rarer and more valuable.