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High Wycombe air station

Airmen dining hall

RAF Alconbury

Aircraft maintenance facility

Alter dormitories

Operations facility

Passive defence equipment storage

RAF Bentwaters

Fuel storage

Passive defence equipment storage

RAF Chicksands

Satellite communications terminal

RAF Fairford

Add to/alter physical fitness centre

Domitory

Organisational maintenance and support equipment complex RAF Greenham Common

Fire station

RAF Lakenheath

Alter dormitory

Alter munitions storage facility

Combat repair equipment storage facility

Chemical warfare protection--squadron operations facility Munitions storage igloos

RAF Mildenhall

Add to and alter physical fitness centre

RAF Upper Heyford

Alter dormitory

Combat repair equipment storage facility

Dormitory

RAF Woodbridge

Combat repair equipment storage facility

Department of defence dependent schools

Feltwell middle school addition

Menwith Hill middle school addition

Defence medical support activity

RAF Arbroath (fleet hospital facility)

RAF Locking

Bermuda

Naval air station family housing office

ENVIRONMENT

Government Offices

Mr. Redwood : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the total square footage of the office estate of central Government within the boundaries of the old Inner London education authority area ; and what is his estimate of the average rental which could be charged on those offices if they were available for arms length letting to the private sector.

Mr. Chope : The best information available is that for the Greater London area as a whole, approximately 2.1 million sq m of office space is held for Government use.

Water Companies

Mr. Beith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will list (a) the bids for control of statutory water companies which will not be affected by


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his proposals for automatic referral of such bids to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, and (b) the announced bids which are likely to be covered by the proposals, indicating in each case the shareholding known to have been acquired by the bidder, and the identity of the bidder.

Mr. Moynihan : The proposals announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 11 January will not affect a bid for control of a statutory water company which does not satisfy the £30 million size of assets test in current merger legislation. A bid for a company with assets exceeding £30 million will be subject to automatic referral if the bidder is another statutory water company with assets exceeding £30 million or a person who already controls another statutory water company with assets exceeding £30 million or a water authority.

The proposals will apply only to mergers initiated after 9 am on 11 January 1989. I am not at present aware of any bids announced since that time which fall within the scope of my right hon. Friend's proposals.

Cars (Recycling)

Mr. Malcolm Bruce : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has as to how many tonnes of cars were recycled in each of the last five years and as to the number of sites for recycling cars ; what measures he is taking to encourage car recycling ; and if he will make a statement.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The information is not available in the form requested. I understand from the British Scrap Federation that its best estimate of the weight of scrap metal derived from all types of motor vehicle is :


               |Million tonnes               

---------------------------------------------

1984           |1.73                         

1985           |1.85                         

1986           |2.08                         

1987           |1.79                         

1988           |2.20                         

Waste Oil

Mr. Malcolm Bruce : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has as to how many local authorities have facilities for the collection of waste oil.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : This information is not held centrally.

Mr. Malcolm Bruce : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has on the amount of waste oil that is unaccounted for each year.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : There are no annually compiled figures. In evidence to the 1985 House of Lords Select Committee on the European Communities inquiry into disposal of waste oils (HL44, 1985-86) it was estimated that 100,000 tonnes were disposed of without re-use, from a total annual generation of 430,000 tonnes of waste oil.

Mr. Malcolm Bruce : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he is taking to publicise (a)


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the dangers to the environment of the disposal of waste oil and (b) the availability of safe disposal and recycling sites ; and what measures he is taking to ensure that waste oil is not used in heaters without proper pollution control equipment and to ensure sufficient safe disposal and recycling sites exist.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : A workshop, under the auspices of the Department and the Department of Trade and Industry, was held last October to promote awareness of the dangers of illegal disposal of waste oils and to encourage the use of suitable disposal facilities. Most local authorities provide such facilities at civic amenity sites.

Plants which burn waste oil will be among the processes for which controls would be strengthened under the proposed revisions to air pollution legislation.

Bottle Banks

Mr. Malcolm Bruce : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has as to the number of people per bottle bank in the United Kingdom and for other European Community countries.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : I understand from the British Glass Manufacturers Confederation that the average density of bottle banks in the United Kingdom is one bottle bank for approximately every 14, 000 people.

In 1978 there were just 17 bottle bank sites in the whole country. By 1982 there were 1,230 or one for 45,000 people. Our target is to reach one for 10,000 people in 1991.

In Europe, the average latest available (1985) figures for the provision of bottle banks are :

Austria 1 bottle bank per 1,200 people

Switzerland 1 bottle bank per 1,300 people

Netherlands 1 bottle bank per 1,400 people

France 1 bottle bank per 2,000 people

Germany 1 bottle bank per 2,000 people

Textiles (Recycling)

Mr. Malcolm Bruce : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has as to how many local authorities have sites where textiles can be taken to be recycled.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : This information is not held centrally.

Plastics (Recycling)

Mr. Malcolm Bruce : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will make a statement on the number of facilities available for the recycling of plastics ; and what steps he is taking to ensure their wider existence ;

(2) what action his Department is taking to encourage the use of environmentally benign plastics ;

(3) what information he has on the long-term viability of biodegradable plastics ; and what measures he is taking to encourage their development ;

(4) what measures he is taking to ensure that plastics are either recycled or disposed of in a manner that enhances the environment and does not involve their dumping in land fill sites.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Recycling of plastics is carried out within the plastics industry with about 50 firms engaged in this work.


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Recycling of plastics used by consumers is more difficult because of the variety of polymers used and the difficulty of separating mixed plastics accordingly.

The Government encourage recycling as an environmentally sound disposal option where it is economic to do so and held a workshop in October 1986 with industry to promote this. The Government are supporting the proposal by UK 2000 for a "Recycling City" demonstration in Sheffield later this year and are pressing the plastics and soft drinks industries to include one or more post-consumer recycling projects in the plans. The demonstration will be monitored and the results publicised to encourage other towns and cities to follow suit.

The use and development of biodegradable plastics has been the subject of research within industry and progress has been made in a number of areas. In the long term, however, market forces will determine the extent to which such materials become widely used. The Government are satisfied that controlled landfill is a safe and practicable disposal method for plastic waste that cannot be recycled.

Archaeology

Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the number of archaeology surveys and researches that his Department is funding in the three counties of Yorkshire together with the cost to date ; and if this is separate from English Heritage's input.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : This is a matter for English Heritage.

Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what effect his Department's emphasis on funding in conjunction with English Heritage and on sponsorship of archaeological sites with tourist potential has had on sites of lesser potential in the three counties of Yorkshire ; and if he will make a statement.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : English Heritage has the responsibility for deciding priorities for funding, within its overall resources.

Water Pollution

Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what new controls over intensive farming and sewage works his Department expects to bring into


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force in the light of the two new draft European Community directives putting controls on fertilisers with the aim of preventing the pollution of drinking water ; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he will be in a position to designate vulnerable areas under the European Community directive on nitrate levels in drinking, ground and sea water.

Mr. Moynihan [holding answer 2 February 1989] : The European Commission has just published its draft proposal for a directive on the protection of fresh, coastal and marine waters against the pollution caused by nitrates.

It is too early to predict the form or timing of the measures needed to implement the draft directive, were the proposals to be agreed by the member states.

Acid Rain

Mr. David Nicholson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his estimate of the contribution made to acid rain in and around the United Kingdom by car exhaust fumes ; what progress is being made to reduce this proportion by the fitting of catalytic converters and other means ; and if he will make a statement.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The Department of Transport is preparing regulations to apply the limits for car exhaust emissions agreed within the European Community. The means by which these limits can be reached are a matter for the motor industry. It is expected that most cars over 1400 cc sold in the United Kingdom will require catalysts to meet them. A further measure for cars below 1400 cc has recently been agreed by the European Community and it is the Government's intention to implement it. The limits are such that most cars below 1400 cc will also then require at least an oxidation catalyst to meet them. Estimates of road transport emissions of nitrogen oxides, the main acidic pollutant from vehicles, are given in the annual digest of environmental protection and water statistics. The 11th edition will be published shortly and copies will be placed in the Library of the House.


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EMPLOYMENT

Radon

Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the number and location of the public sector buildings in England and Wales that receive a level of radon in excess of that which they were designed to withstand, and the number of milliSieverts by which that design standard is exceeded.

Mr. Chope : I can add nothing to the answer that I gave to the hon. Member on 23 January ( Official Report column 455 ).

Local Authority Finance

Mr. Pike : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list those local authorities where the rate support grant settlement for 1989-90 shows an increase of less than 3 per cent. ; and what is the average percentage increase for all local authorities.

Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The list below shows those authorities with increases in block grant of less than 3 per cent. between 1988-89 and 1989-90. The average increase for England is 8.8 per cent. The grant figures for 1988-89 have been adjusted for the transfer of higher education establishments to the polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council.

Authorities with increase of less than 3 per cent. in block grant between 1988-89 and 1989-90

East Cambridgeshire

Caradon

Erewash

North East Derbyshire

Mid Devon

North Dorset

Lewes

Rother

Brentwood

Cotswold

East Hampshire

Rushmoor

Malvern Hills

Holderness

Kingston upon Hull

Ashford

Gravesham

Maidstone

Rochester upon Medway

Tunbridge Wells

Fylde

South Ribble

Boston

East Lindsey

South Holland

South Kesteven

King's Lynn and West Norfolk

Tynedale

Craven

Ryedale

Ashfield

Gedling

Vale of White Horse

Oswestry

Mendip

Sedgemoor

Taunton Deane

South Somerset

Tamworth

Warwick

Chichester

St. Helens

Barnsley

Rotherham

Gateshead

Hounslow

Avon

Dorset

Essex

Hampshire

Isle of Wight

North Yorkshire

Nottinghamshire

Staffordshire

Suffolk

Wiltshire


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