Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what policies exist to encourage local authorities and other public bodies to reduce light pollution levels.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
As the department responsible for protecting and enhancing our urban and natural environment, Defra plays a co-ordinating role across Government to ensure coherence in this area.
Other departments are responsible for specific policy areas including the Department for Transport for street lighting and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) for lighting policy in the planning regime. This includes the National Planning Policy Framework which sets out that local planning policies and their decisions should limit the impact of light pollution from artificial light.
This Framework is supported by MHCLG planning guidance, which was revised in November 2019 and sets out how environmental and other impacts of light pollution should be considered in the planning system. Local planning authorities must take the Framework into account when preparing their plans and its policies, including those on light pollution.
Additionally, a local planning authority can attach conditions to the grant of planning permission, in order to enhance the quality and mitigate the adverse effects of a development, including, for example, noise, air, light and other forms of pollution. It is important to ensure that conditions are tailored to tackle specific problems, rather than standardised or used to impose broad unnecessary controls.
Local highway authorities have a duty under the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the public highways in their charge, and it is for them to decide what type of lighting they use to meet local needs.
Highways England, which manages our motorways and major roads, is also working actively to minimise light pollution.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to reduce levels of light pollution; and if so, how they intend to do so.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The Government recognises the problem of light pollution. The Government's 25-Year Environment Plan includes a commitment to cut all forms of pollution and ease the pressure on the environment, including ensuring that light pollution is managed effectively.
Current measures include Defra working with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government in the development of their Planning Policy Guidance on Light Pollution, which outlines factors which may be relevant when considering where, when and how much lights emanates from new developments together with possible human and ecological impacts.
The Department for Transport encourages all local authorities to replace their street lighting with low-impact LED lighting wherever economically feasible.
Additionally, Highways England is responsible for the strategic road network in England and is obliged to minimise the environmental impacts (including of road lighting) across the network. A full appraisal is carried out before any lighting project is commissioned, including in-depth analysis of the environmental impact and economic benefits of the scheme. All lighting on the network is designed according to current British standards which emphasise the importance of limiting light pollution, and older forms of lantern are in the process of being replaced with environmentally sensitive lighting when they become due for renewal.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to arrange for the publication of copies of the 2006 Framework Agreements between the Forestry Commission and (1) Forest Holidays, and (2) the Camping and Caravanning Club; and whether they will place copies of such minutes in the library of the House.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
A copy of the 2006 Framework Agreement between the Forestry Commission and Forest Holidays has been placed in the library.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the interest of the Forestry Commission in Forest Holidays Group Ltd as regards (1) percentage of voting rights and (2) percentage of share ownership; and what changes to these interests have occurred since September 2012.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Forest Holidays is a Joint Venture established under the Regulatory Reform (Forestry) Order 2006. Under the 2006 Agreement between Forest Holidays and the Forestry Commission, the Commission retained a 49% stake in the Joint Venture.
A refinancing agreement was brokered in 2012 where the Forestry Commission interest in Forest Holidays represented 20% of the equity stake in the company.
A further refinancing of Forest Holidays took place in 2017, whereby the Forestry Commission retained its full equity interest as a 13.4% stake in the business.
The 20% voting rights that the Forestry Commission held in 2012 was linked to equity participation, and could be diluted down to a minimum of 10%. Voting rights that the Forestry Commission negotiated as part of the 2017 refinancing are fixed higher than equity share at 17.1% and are not subject to dilution. The 2017 voting rights also carry increased representation and greater access to information than before.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to arrange for the publication of the minutes of the meetings of the Forestry Commission's Board of Commissioners held on (1) 16 June 2016, (2) 15 December 2016, (3) 28 September 2017, and (4) 14 December 2017; and whether they will place copies of such minutes in the library of the House.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Forestry Commission publishes minutes and papers of the meetings of the Board of Forestry Commissioners on its website. Therefore, copies of all meeting minutes, including the meetings held on 16 June 2016, 15 December 2016, 28 September 2017 and 14 December 2017 are in the public domain, subject to any redactions of ‘official sensitive’ information or ‘business sensitive’ information which would be likely to prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs, as laid out in the Freedom of Information Act.
There is no plan to place copies of minutes of the Board of Forestry Commissioners in the library of the House.
Asked by: Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to arrange for the publication of the minutes of all the meetings of the Forestry Commission's National Committee for England held since 1 September 2016; and whether they will place copies of such minutes in the library of the House.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Forestry Commission publishes minutes and papers of the meetings of the National Committee for England on its website. Therefore copies of all meeting minutes, including meetings since the 1 September 2016, are in the public domain, subject to any redactions of ‘official sensitive’ information or ‘business sensitive’ information which would be likely to prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs, as laid out in the Freedom of Information Act.
There is no plan to place copies of minutes of the National Committee for England in the library of the House.