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Broads Authority Bill (By Order)

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that. It seems that there is continuing dialogue and the petitioners may have some hopes that some of their concerns may be addressed. That may be done in Committee, but if not I am sure that those concerns will be considered in the other place as well. When reading the Bill, I was struck by the increased powers given to the authority. There are numerous examples of inspection and enforcement by what is referred to as ““an authorised officer?. Can the hon. Member for Norwich, North tell the House who those authorised officers are and what their qualifications are to carry out their duties? Will the authorised officers be part of the present staff of the Broads Authority, which I think consists of about 100 individuals, or will additional officers have to be recruited? For the sake of transparency, it is important that we have that information. It is likely that the new powers and activities of the Broads Authority will incur greater costs. The hon. Member for Norwich, North made that point and was looking towards the Minister as he did so. I know that the Broads Authority has already made it clear in a briefing note for this debate that:"““The formula for allocating National Park Grant does not, in the view of the Broads Authority, reflect the higher costs of managing a water-based protected area with significant navigation.?" Additional moneys were granted by DEFRA through the good offices of the right hon. Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth (Alun Michael) in 2005, but 2007-08 is the last year of funding. Does the hon. Member for Norwich, North or the Minister know the financial consequences of implementing the Bill? It may be revenue neutral, but if there are additional costs, does that mean that savings will have to be made in the Broads Authority’s current budget or is it possible that it will get the extra resources to cover the implementation of the Bill? Finally, I shall deal with the management and accountability of the board. In many respects the authority is a hybrid because although it looks, acts and feels like a national park board—we have debated that—it has its own legislation because of the particular navigational responsibilities. It comprises 21 members—a mixture of local authority members, appointees of the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and representatives of navigational users. Schedule 6 would amend the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads Act 1988 so that:"““The members appointed…shall include persons appointed by the Secretary of State after consultation with such bodies appearing to him to represent the following interests, that is to say—""(a) boating;""(b) conservation;""(c) farming and landowning;""(d) land based recreation""as he considers appropriate, and in making such appointments the Secretary of State shall have regard to the desirability of maintaining an overall balance…between those interests.?" On the face of it, that sounds perfectly legitimate as an attempt to make certain that all the different interest groups are on the board, have a direct input and can bring their influence to bear. As I understand it, the elected representative elements are in a minority, while the appointees, of one kind or another, form the majority. In its own way, the new board is all very admirable, but as the hon. Member for Norwich, North pointed out, there is a concern that it will not include any representation from the Norfolk and Suffolk parish and town councils. All the other national authority boards have direct representation from parish and town councils. It is true that the new membership includes one elected member from each of the district and borough councils with parishes and towns in the broads area, but the Norfolk and Suffolk county associations, which have approached me and other hon. Members, do not feel that that gives the most local tier of local government the required mechanisms to feed in their views on the many aspects covered by the new Broads Authority, especially the newly acquired planning role.