Posted on 27 Oct 2006
One result of the SPS’s Fiftieth Anniversary celebrations was a proposal from Peter Viggers MP to set up a Parliamentary Panel made up of Members of Parliament from the Solent region or who have a particular interest in the protection of the area. The first meeting of the panel will take place early in December, when the Chairman and three other members of Council will brief the Panel on the current issues with which SPS is engaged. The initial members of the Panel are Christopher Chope, John Denham, Mike Hancock, Mark Hoban, Chris Huhne, Julian Lewis, Sarah McCarthy-Fry, Andrew Turner, Andrew Tyrie, Alan Whitehead and David Willetts. Desmond Swayne will also attend.
SPS hopes that the Panel will provide a regular conduit for information to MPs about Solent issues and the SPS’s activities and provide a means of marshalling Parliamentary support for SPS initiatives, when this is needed. One of the questions to be addressed at the December meeting will be how the Panel might be expanded to include members of the House of Lords and MEPs.
Report by Professor M. Forster
Solent Protection Society 