Malvern Hills Bill [HL]

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle Excerpts

2nd reading
Wednesday 4th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Earl, Lord Attlee, who has clearly carefully applied himself to the details, in both his speech and instruction. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Faulkner, for so ably introducing the Bill.

I have the misfortune not to have a special connection to the Malvern Hills, although I have been a visitor there a number of times, but I have had representations from people who are very concerned about their future who have asked me to speak today. They are passionate about the future of the hills and they support the Bill and the way forward. A really important point, as the noble Lord, Lord Faulkner, stressed, is that this is a charity and is under the governance of the Charity Commission, which we know is important for keeping a sense of direction and for bodies following their aims.

I have to reflect briefly on why we here in Westminster are debating this Bill. According to Google Maps, it would take us one day and 20 hours to walk to the top of the Malvern Hills—I do not think I would do it in that time myself, but that is the maximum record. It would take more than four hours by public transport. That being about 120 miles, it means the average speed is 30 miles per hour, which is something of an indictment of the public transport. None the less, the question is: why do we have a system of government that means that we are here in Westminster debating the future of a local area? Would it not it be much better if it was local people having the debate in that local area? However, we are where we are and we have to do the best we can, and that is what noble Lords are doing.

There are a couple of points that I particularly wanted to make. The noble Lord, Lord Faulkner, has outlined so much that I am not going to go over anything like all the ground that he did, but it is important to make the point about the reduction in the number of trustees from 29 to 12. That figure is the maximum number generally recommended by the charity governance code and the Charity Commission guidance. I think most noble Lords in this Chamber and elsewhere will have found themselves on many governing bodies, trusts, boards, et cetera, over the years. Twelve is a very large board, and we know how difficult decision-making can be in those sorts of situations. It is also important to stress that, if the Bill is enacted in its current form, the proportion of elected trustees increases from 38% to 50%. This is a modernisation and a moving forward—that is the overall direction of the Bill—for an area that sees 1.25 million visitors a year, according to University of Bristol figures.

It is worth noting—and many people have commented on it—what a good state the Malvern Hills are in. I looked this up. The word Malvern derives from the Celtic, “moel bryn”, which means “bare hill”. That is obviously an historic name, but we know that we live in one of the most nature-depleted corners of this blighted planet. I am sure that we can do better by nature; we can do better by those many visitors, and we know how important green spaces are to public health to make those spaces as good as they can be for visitors, for the farmers, and for the communities. This is an attempt to make a step forward, a modernisation. Ideally, we would not be doing this here at all, but given that these are the rules we operate under, I support the direction of the Bill.