George Norrie, 2nd Baron Norrie
Pioneering legislation
### Pioneering legislation

In April 1991 Norrie sponsored a Private Member's Bill on swimming and water safety on behalf of the [Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS)](/wiki/Royal_Life_Saving_Society_UK "Royal Life Saving Society UK"). This required schools to ensure their pupils could swim. In the 3 years up to 1991 200 children under 15 had died from drowning, 80% of them unable to swim. The bill he sponsored became law in 1994 under statutory order, meaning that since then swimming and water safety have been part of the national curriculum for physical education in England.

In 1991 a pivotal Countryside Commission report, chaired by Professor Ron Edwards, recommended a number of measures for better protection and management of the [National Parks of England and Wales](/wiki/National_Parks_of_England_and_Wales "National Parks of England and Wales"). “Fit for the Future” included a recommendation that National Parks should have independent authorities to run them. In the absence of Government legislation Norrie took forward a Private Member's Bill with this one aim, supported by a national campaign spearheaded by [Sir Chris Bonington](/wiki/Chris_Bonington "Chris Bonington"), President of the Council for National Parks at the time. Norrie introduced it to Parliament on 16 March 1994\. The Bill ran out of time but led to the National Park clauses in the [Environment Act 1995](/wiki/Environment_Act_1995 "Environment Act 1995"). Norrie contributed more widely to debate on measures across the wide\-ranging legislation.

Norrie was instrumental in securing environmental safeguards in the passage of legislation to privatise the utilities: [Water Act](/wiki/Water_Act_1989 "Water Act 1989") (3 amendments tabled and won 1989\); [Electricity Act](/wiki/Electricity_Act_1989 "Electricity Act 1989") (two amendments won 1989\) and Coal Industry Act (one amendment 1990\). In 1993 Norrie won the Green House (now Green Ribbon) Political Award in the House of Lords: “to recognise and reward the contribution made by politicians to environmental protection through their activity at Westminster and Brussels”.


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