Horsemeat

Aidan Burley Excerpts

Thursday 14th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Heath]

I can only say that at the moment we have the services of Europol. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is using those services very effectively. He is leading that request today and we will make sure that on a pan-European basis we deal with what is a pan-European issue.

May I reply to the question asked by the hon. Member for Penistone and Stocksbridge (Angela Smith)? She asked for a date, but I did not want to give her the wrong one, because my memory may be fallible. It was Monday 11 February.

[Mr Aidan Burley (Cannock Chase) (Con)]

What my constituents want to know is simply whether it is safe to eat processed beef products that are currently on sale. The hon. Member for Wakefield (Mary Creagh) has spread huge fear by saying that she would not eat products that are currently on sale. What is the advice of the chief medical officer and the independent Food Standards Agency on this matter?

Forestry (England)

Aidan Burley Excerpts

Thursday 17th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Spelman]

I thank my hon. Friend for his kind remarks. This has been a difficult issue, as I have said, but it has also provided an opportunity to encourage all those people who corresponded with us to be more involved in the protection and enhancement of our woodlands by volunteering. Engaging with our constituents in the opportunities to plant more trees and protect our woodlands is a good outcome for all of us who love our woods and forests.

[Mr Aidan Burley (Cannock Chase) (Con)]

Under the policy of the previous Labour Government, Cannock chase could have been sold off without any protection for access whatsoever. That would have been completely reversed by the granting of heritage status under the Secretary of State’s previous proposals. The people of Cannock chase will rightly feel that today’s decision leaves their forest as exposed as it was under Labour, so what reassurances can she give that the granting of heritage status will remain an option for the independent panel and that there are no plans, and never were, to sell off Cannock chase?

[Mrs Spelman]

I can give my hon. Friend an absolute assurance that, as Ministers have said many times, we wish to protect access and other public benefits for all woodlands and forests. I will certainly encourage the independent panel to look at the issue of heritage forests. He has done an admirable job of speaking up for Cannock chase and made a strong case for it being considered a heritage forest, and I am sure that his constituents will thank him all the more for that.

--- Later in debate ---

[Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)]

I thank the Secretary of State for having the common sense to change her mind and to preserve Kielder, which is larger than Thetford, for sure.

[Mr Burley]

But not as nice as Cannock chase.

[Guy Opperman]

And even better than Cannock chase.

In reality, the Opposition’s criticism is wrong, because many of us got into this business and ran for Parliament because we thought that the way the countryside was being treated was manifestly wrong. Over the years, they rode roughshod over us, and that was totally wrong.

Public Forest Estate (England)

Aidan Burley Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Lilian Greenwood]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right: those are things that we should protect. We should seek to learn from countries that appreciate the value of those public assets. Indeed, recent experience tells us that we are right to be wary. Rigg wood near Coniston water was sold off last autumn.

[Mr Aidan Burley (Cannock Chase) (Con)]

By Labour.

[Lilian Greenwood]

We should learn from things that we get wrong as well as from things that we get right. Indeed, what happened at Rigg wood, where there are padlocks on the car park, is why so many people—85% of the public, according to recent polls—want us to keep our woodlands in public hands.

Those people include my constituent Donna, who works at a local country park, who said:

“I am quite shocked that the present government is planning to sell off our land—land that we have a right to keep free and open for us all to enjoy”;

Carl, who has used forests all his life, who says:

“It grieves and horrifies me to hear that these beautiful places are going to be sold off and ruined forever, so that future generations will no longer be able to enjoy them as I have, please don’t support this awful bill”;

and Alison, another constituent, who described the potential sell-off as

“devastating for the people of Nottinghamshire,”

adding:

“Families are already feeling the effects of cutbacks in terms of affordable leisure activities for the whole family to enjoy”.

Dozens and dozens of constituents have been in touch to express their concerns about the potential damage to native woodland species, habitats and wildlife, and especially to our national treasures such as Grizedale forest, Kielder and the Forest of Dean, and to tell me their stories of using local forests and woodlands, week in and week out, for dog walking, orienteering, rambling and even historical re-enactments. Others have talked about their passionate love of the outdoors, developed as a result of childhood visits to our local woodland. They recognise that the Government have a duty to protect access to areas of natural beauty and to ensure that these irreplaceable natural habitats and their wildlife can be enjoyed by future generations.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Paice]

I cannot say it more clearly than I just did. We will guarantee existing rights of access on any land that is moved away from its current operation.

My hon. Friend the Member for Hexham also rightly referred to jobs in his area—specifically to those at Egger—as did the hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell). I do not often agree with the latter politically, but I respect his passionate belief in the interests of the working people of this country. I can assure my hon. Friend and the hon. Gentleman that the Government care about those jobs too. The announcement of job losses today is extremely sad and distressing, and we understand and sympathise with those who might lose their jobs, but that was not the result of our consultation.

[Mr Burley]

I represent Cannock chase, which is one of the great forests of England and important to everybody in the west midlands. Does the Minister agree that it is an historic forest and, as such, deserves heritage status?

[Mr Paice]

There will be lots of bids for heritage forest status. The criteria by which they will be judged are laid down in the consultation document. I fully recognise that Cannock chase has major attributes in that respect, as have other forests, but I am not at this stage going to start listing every single one.