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Railway Heritage Bill
Order for Second Reading read.
1.52 pm
Mr. Mark Robinson (Somerton and Frome): I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.
It would be difficult to overestimate the importance of the railways in the development of the country's transport infrastructure. They certainly shaped the landscape of my childhood. I grew up in Bristol, which contains many examples of the work of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.I have many early memories of travelling to London on the Great Western Railway, as we always called it, through the great Box tunnel just outside Bath. I was lucky enough to travel on occasions on the old Bristolian with one of the Castle locomotives pulling the coaches rapidly along.
I remember thinking that I would approve of the advent of the diesel engine as modern technology, but I quickly changed my mind. I believe that many, like me, have great affection for the age of steam and the history of our railways. The influence of the railways on our nation goes far deeper than just the landscape. One has to think only of the Duke of Wellington's anxiety that railways would encourage
to realise the enormous social change that has been brought by the railways, in other countries as well as ours. Those of us who are aficionados of the Western movie will clearly understand that.
As a history graduate, I believe strongly in the importance of learning from the past. To do that effectively, we must ensure that historic materials are preserved and made available to the public so that it is possible for our children to learn about the railways and their great contribution to our industrial revolution.
Governments of all political parties have been aware for some time of the need to ensure the conservation of our railway heritage.
Mr. Toby Jessel (Twickenham):
Does my hon. Friend agree that interest in the railway heritage is part of a wider interest in transport heritage? If any museum shows old ships or ship models, old bicycles, old cars, old aircraft, old engines or old carriages, those displays have a tremendous appeal for the young, and always will do. That interest should be fostered and encouraged, and that is why my hon. Friend's Bill should be supported in every possible way.
Mr. Robinson:
I entirely agree with my hon. Friend, and I thank him for his intervention. At this late stage, it may be difficult to extend the scope of the Bill to the preservation of other parts of our transportation heritage. My hon. Friend's extremely good point is borne in mind by all those who have a great affection for the railways.
Section 114 of the Transport Act 1968 transferred responsibility for British Railways Board's historic artefacts and certain of its records to the then Department of Education and Science. In 1975, the national railway museum was opened in York on the site of the former London and North East Railway museum in what was once the York north motive power depot, to house those artefacts and records.
I look forward to visiting the constituency of the hon. Member for York (Mr. Bayley), who has registered his support for the Bill. For reasons connected with his advice surgeries, however, he is unable to be with us today. I certainly look forward to taking up an invitation to visit the national railway museum. If the Bill is successful in passing into law, I hope to deposit a copy of the Act at the museum.
Mr. Peter Atkinson (Hexham):
While touring the north, perhaps my hon. Friend would like to come tomy constituency to visit Wylam in Northumberland,the birthplace of the locomotive. One of the great disputes in history surrounds who built the first locomotive. Wylam is the birthplace of George Stephenson. Although he is often credited with building the first locomotive,it was built by a local shipowner, William Hedley.If records had been properly kept, that mystery could have been cleared up many years ago.
Mr. Robinson:
I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. My knowledge of railway history has just been significantly improved. If I have time, and my hon. Friend is in his constituency, I will be delighted to come and learn a little bit more on my way north.
The need to preserve our railway heritage was not forgotten in the privatisation legislation, because section 125 of the Railways Act 1993 extended the protection of railway artefacts and records to those owned by the new public sector bodies set up under that Act. Under that section, the Railway Heritage Committee was created in 1994, with the function of designating artefacts or records as worthy of preservation and ensuring that they go to the appropriate collecting institution at the end of their working lives. The committee consists of individuals who are respected in the working railway and railway heritage communities.
The committee has done some worthwhile work.For example, it has designated the Railtrack collection of Brunel-era drawings between 1883 and 1859. That collection comprises more than 7,000 drawings of original Great Western Railway structures, many of them by IKB himself, and bearing his signature. Classed as working drawings, many are still in use and are regularly consulted by Railtrack engineers. A programme of restoration is under way and a feasibility study is now in process to determine whether additional funds can be found to speed up that programme and make the collection available for public inspection.
Also designated is the famous Gooch centrepiece--which has nothing to do with the great man who recently occupied the crease at many of our test match grounds.In 1837, Brunel appointed Sir Daniel Gooch, then aged 21, as the GWR's first locomotive superintendent. He was living proof that one could rise to the top, because, although he resigned in 1864, he soon returned as chairman of the board. In 1872, the shareholders voted him an honorarium of 5,000 guineas, from which the centrepiece, which has a triangular base, was commissioned. At each corner of the centrepiece sits a sculptured figure--I. K. Brunel, George Stephenson and Joseph Locke. Artefacts from the royal train--among other things--are currently being considered for designation.
The powers of the committee, and the excellent work that it has carried out, are in danger of coming to an abrupt end when the companies that own railway artefacts and
records are privatised. When the Railways Bill was in another place, Ministers undertook to bring forward a voluntary scheme to extend the heritage regime to the private sector. I understand that that is no longer considered a viable option. The Bill will ensure the protection of those artefacts and records that are leaving the protection of the Railways Act as their owners pass into the private sector.
I pay tribute to the chairman and members of the Railway Heritage Committee, who have given the Bill so much support. I also pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Minister and to his civil servants at the Department of Transport, who have also taken a keen interest in this matter. Their advice in helping to frame the legislation has been most useful. I am grateful that they were prepared to listen to members of the Railway Heritage Committee and to incorporate their thoughts and observations into the Bill.
The Bill deals with moveable items, artifacts and records, rather than buildings and permanent structures. Buildings and permanent structures are protected by planning legislation. Brunel's train sheds at Temple Mead are grade 1 listed. Hon. Members will be aware that the Railway Heritage Trust does an excellent job in funding and carrying out preservation work on such structures.
The owners of artefacts and records that are covered by the Bill will inherit the British Railways Board's property under the restructuring of the railway industry, as a consequence of the Railways Act 1993. The Bill makes a number of changes, which reflect the different requirements of a scheme involving private sector operators.
I shall outline how the regime will work in practice. When a body to which the Bill applies wishes to dispose of a designated artefact or record, it will be required to notify the committee of the intended recipient and the terms of the disposal. If the committee is unhappy with either the intended recipient or the terms, it can direct the body to offer the item to a different person, on different terms, or both.
The body making the disposal will be able to do so only with the committee's consent or under the terms directed by the committee, but the committee has to make up its mind in six months, after which the disposing body can act freely. I believe that to be a reasonable stipulation.
If the committee determines terms for the disposal,the people to whom the object is offered have to act within six months. All other such disposals under the Bill would be void. Making disposals in contravention of the Bill void should act as a deterrent and reduce the likelihood of dishonest dealings. That is why I have felt that it would be inappropriate to introduce criminal sanctions into the Bill.
I pay tribute to those who devote so much of their lives to preserve old steam locomotives, carriages and the like. Indeed, this week, I had the opportunity to visit Cranmore railway station in my constituency, where I saw the painstaking work that was being done on the Nunney Castle, which is one of the Castle class steam locomotives. In the 1980s, I represented the constituency of Newport, West. Extraordinarily enough, I found one of my former constituents, whom I knew well at the time, on top of the engine busily polishing its engine and getting it ready for tomorrow. As part of its commissioning, tomorrow, it will set off on a journey to Plymouth, which
will take the weekend, and then return to Cranmore the following weekend, hopefully having given much pleasure to many people--as it will continue to do.
The Bill gives the Secretary of State the power to give guidance to the committee. That guidance will be used to set out the compensation and dispute regulations and to give helpful advice on how to word directions so that they may be legally binding.
In order to be effective in its task of preserving railway artefacts and records, the legislative framework must recognise the interests of the working railway. It is essential that the working railway should work in partnership with the railway heritage community in the preservation, for future generations, of railway artefacts and records. I believe that the provisions of the Bill will meet that need.
When an item is transferred from a private sector body to a collecting institution, in accordance with the direction of the committee, and the collecting institution pays market value compensation to that body, the committee would not be able to direct the owner to dispose of an item in a way different from that which the owner wishes--for instance, to lease when he wishes to sell or vice versa. For the further protection of the owners, the committee would be required to consent to a proposed disposal if it does not object, rather than just sit on it until its power to direct expires after six months. If the committee failed to notify the owner of the designated artefact or record of the designation, that owner would be free to dispose of that item.
Of course, it is necessary to ensure that working records and artefacts are not in danger of compulsory transfer to museums. To that end, transfers of equipment betweenowners covered by the Bill--which would, before April 1994, have been BR internal transfers--and disposals in accordance with transfer schemes under part II of the Railways Act 1993, would not require a direction from the committee.
I believe that the Bill will act as an important fail-safe in the task of preserving our railway heritage. One of the delights of our railway heritage is the work of individuals and organisations who voluntarily ensure that museums, such as that in York, make such a contribution to the history of our railways. By doing so, they demonstrate to the younger generation just how important our railways have been to the development of Britain's economic prosperity.
We can travel around many parts of our country and come across preserved and special railways. Indeed, I did so only last summer, when I had the pleasure of travelling on the Blaenau Ffestiniog railway with my family.That railway, together with the East Somerset and West Somerset railways, are to be commended to any hon. Members who are thinking of doing something a little different in the coming summer recess. Certainly, for those of us with young children it is a delight to travel on the railways and to see the enthusiasm of the people who run them and the care that is taken to ensure that these magnificent engines and their carriages are restored to such a remarkable condition.
"the lower orders to go uselessly wandering about the country"
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