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Mr. Chope : The available information for England is as follows :
Number of dwellings/Percentage
|Net total demolished or|Percentage of which in
|closed (including slum |private sector
|clearance) |(including owner
|occupied)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1979-80 |<1>37,300 |<2>-
1980-81 |38,900 |62
1981-82 |35,200 |56
1982-83 |24,800 |54
1983-84 |20,300 |46
1984-85 |26,600 |38
1985-86 |17,900 |50
1986-87 |16,000 |45
1987-88<3> |16,000 |40
Average over period 1980-81 to 1987-88 |24,500 |51
<1> Estimate.
<2> Not available.
<3> Provisional.
Note: Information for the private rented sector is not available.
For information on Wales, I refer the hon. Member to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.
Magnox Reactors
Mr. Flynn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will ask the chairman of United Kingdom Nirex Ltd. to re-evaluate the benefits of the Bradwell nuclear reactor site for the construction of a repository for bulk radioactive wastes such as boiler, heat-exchangers and pipework from decommissioned Magnox reactors ; and reactor components from submarines.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : No. The Government have accepted Nirex's recommendation that further exploratory work at Sellafield and Dounreay is necessary before any particular site for a disposal facility for low and intermediate-level radioactive waste can be decided upon. The facility is intended to accommodate both operational and decommissioning wastes. The Government intend to keep open the sea disposal option for low-level large items arising from decommissioning operations. Reactor components from submarines are the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence.
Ivory
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement about the current whereabouts and plans for future disposal of the 1,025 kilos of ivory exported from Zaire without a licence in June 1986 by Mr. Shivaz Virji of Ealing.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The Department has no information about a consignment in June 1986.
Hazardous Wastes
Ms. Quin : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what initiatives he has taken at meetings of the European Council of Environment Ministers to ensure that proper border checks can be made on rail and road cargos of hazardous wastes at the joint borders of European Economic Community states following the creation of the European single market.
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Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : National borders will still be relevant after the creation of the European single market in the control of shipments of waste. We have asked the Council of Environment Ministers to examine transborder shipments of all waste, not only of hazardous waste.
Uranium
Ms. Quin : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what regulatory regime covers the environmental protection of uranium wastes and depleted uranium stored at BNFL Springfields, Chapelcross, Capenhurst and Sellafield, United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority sites at Harwell, Windscale, Winfrith and Dounreay and each of the Central Electricity Generating Board's nuclear plant sites, and the Central Electricity Generating Board's research laboratories at Berkeley and Barnwood.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Regulatory control is exercised in respect of radioactive waste discharges and disposals from nuclear site operators by HMIP.
Radioactive wastes from nuclear sites are disposed of under the conditions and limitations of site specific authorisations issued under section 6 of the Radioactive Substances Act 1960 by the authorising Departments (DOE and MAFF). These authorisations, which are kept under regular review, require the operator to meet strict disposal limits and to use the best practicable means to further limit discharges. They are given only if the Secretary of State is satisfied about the effect of the discharges on the environment.
Radioactive Waste
Ms. Quin : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what volumes of low and intermediate-level radioactive wastes arising from reprocessed spent Magnox nuclear fuel from (a) the Latina reactor in Italy and (b) the Tokai Nura reactor in Japan are currently in store at (i) Harwell, (ii) Drigg, (iii) Sellafield, (iv) Chapelcross and (v) Aldermaston.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : This information is not kept by the Department. I have asked the chairman of British Nuclear Fuels plc to write to the hon. Member.
Ms. Quin : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what volumes of radioactive toxic and special wastes for which his Department has responsibility are located at Springfields and Capenhurst.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : The volumes of radioactive waste located at Springfields and Capenhurst are contained in the United Kingdom radioactive waste inventory, a copy of which is held in the Library of the House. Details of toxic and special wastes are held by the appropriate waste disposal authority.
Environmental Protection
Ms. Quin : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many written questions on environmental protection and pollution issues he has declined to answer since May 1979 on the grounds that replies could be given only at disproportionate cost.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : No record is kept of the number of questions which are answered in this way.
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Dr. Thomas : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will set out the investments made between 1974-79, and 1979 to the present respectively, by Her Majesty's Government in (a) energy conservation and efficiency, (b) detoxification of rivers and estuaries, (c) research into acid rain pollution, (d) radioactive waste management and disposal, (e) controlling air and aqueous radioactive discharges and (f) the reprocessing of nuclear fuel from foreign contracts ;
(2) what percentage of United Kingdom gross national product has been devoted to environmental protection in each year since 1979 ; if he has comparable figures for each year from 1975 to 1979 ; and what information he has for the gross national product/environmental protection expenditure ratio in other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries for the same time period.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : I will write to the hon. Member.
Water Pollution
Mr. Alton : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if water companies will be open to prosecution for events such as outbreaks of crypto-sporidium in drinking water and cessation of water supplies due to midge larvae infestation after privatisation.
Mr. Howard : I will write to the hon. Member.
Sunderland Enterprise Zone
Mr. David Davis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether, following the statement by the right hon. Member for Braintree (Mr. Newton) on 13 July, Official Report , columns 1148-57, he intends to proceed with the designation of the Sunderland enterprise zone.
Mr. Hunt : A fresh invitation to the Tyne and Wear development corporation to prepare an enterprise zone scheme has been issued today. This replaces the earlier invitation referred to in the answer given by my hon. Friend the Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Mr. Trippier) to my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Hallam (Mr. Patnick) on 10 April, and incorporates revisions to the boundary of zone No. 1 covering land at Hylton riverside and Soundwick shipyard which were requested by the corporation. The effect of these is to replace a 10-acre site requiring much preparation with one that is ready for development. I am arranging for copies of the present invitation and map showing the land specified to be placed in the Library of the House. Meanwhile I understand that Sunderland borough council is continuing with steps towards the designation of those areas for which it is the enterprise zone authority (zone 2 at Castletown and zone 3 at Doxford park).
Water Bill
Mr. Hanley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he will reply to the points raised in the debate on the Water Bill on 3 July by the hon. Member for Richmond and Barnes as promised by the Under- Secretary of State, Official Report , column 85.
Mr. Moynihan : I wrote to my hon. Friend yesterday.
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Strategic Planning (London)
Mr. Heddle : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will now make a statement on strategic planning guidance for London.
Mr. Moynihan : I have placed copies of the strategic guidance for London in the Library today and will send my hon. Friend a copy. I announced in the House that the guidance takes account of the comments received in consultation on the draft which the Secretary of State published on 6 March.
The purpose of the guidance is to help the local planning authorities in London to prepare their unitary development plans. It is not intended as a comprehensive "master plan" for London, but as a statement of the Government's policies on those matters relating to the development and use of land which need to be dealt with on a Londonwide basis. Within this framework, the guidance allows each borough wide freedom to draw up with the local community the unitary development plan for its area.
The guidance includes policies on business, industrial, retail and tourist development; road and rail infrastructure and the relationship between transport and land use; provision for additional housing for the next decade; protection of the green belt, metropolitan open land and other open spaces; conservation of the natural and the built environment; and preservation of the character of the River Thames.
The guidance marks an important further step away from the cumbersome, centralised planning of the 1960s and 1970s towards the effective and well- focused development plans London will need as it faces the opportunities of the 1990s.
Copies of the guidance are being sent to all London Members of Parliament.
Green Belt
Mr. Shersby : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment in what circumstances the controlsembodied in green belt policy can apply to uses of land as distinct from building development on it.
Mr. Moynihan : I will write to my hon. Friend.
Chlorofluorocarbons
Mr. Fearn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has any further plans to regulate the sale of products containing chlorofluorocarbons ; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley : Production and supply of
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are already limited by the Montreal protocol, which should be amended next year so as to require their complete elimination by the year 2000. We will legislate against specific products only if industry fails to maintain its rapid reduction in CFC consumption.
Tropical Hardwoods
Mr. Kirkwood : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the policy of the Property Services Agency in respect of the use of tropical hardwoods.
Mr. Chope [holding answer 20 July 1989] : I will write to the hon. Member.
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London Residuary Body
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give details of the 65 applications by the London residuary body to his Department for consent to dispose of properties by means of voluntary sales to licensee occupiers at discounted prices.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley [holding answer 27 July 1989] : I will write to the hon. Member.
Sea Levels
Mr. William Ross : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what studies have been carried out by or on behalf of Her Majesty's Government to ascertain whether and to what extent sea levels can be expected to rise in the next 60 years as a result of the greenhouse effect ; and what areas of the present United Kingdom coastline would be under water at the lowest and highest projections for sea levels.
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley [holding answer 21 July 1989] : The Meteorological Office has made a major international contribution to modelling climate change including its impact on sea level. This work has contributed to the current consensus that the sea level rise which would follow a doubling of effective greenhouse gas concentrations could lie between 20 cm and about 1.5 m. Costs of defending the coastline increase with sea level rise.
The actual sea level rise over the next 60 years, and therefore the land area threatened, depends on the actual rate of increase in greenhouse gas concentrations. Providing the best available scientific advice on this and all other aspects of the greenhouse effect is the task of the intergovernmental panel on climate change, for which the science review panel is chaired by the Meteorological Office and funded by the Department of the Environment and the Department of Energy.
Beaches, South Wales
Mr. Speller : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) which beaches along the South Wales coastline between Cardiff and the Gower peninsula conform to the water quality standards of Economic Community bathing water directive 76/160/EEC ; and what consideration he has given to the merits of existing and proposed screened sewage outfalls along this coastline ;
(2) which beaches on the south Wales coastline within 10 miles of Swansea attain the standards required under Economic Community bathing water directive 76/160/EEC.
Mr. Howard : I will write to my hon. Friend.
Director General of Water Services
Mr. Bevan : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment where the office of the Director General of Water Services will be located.
Mr. Howard [pursuant to the reply, 23 March 1989, c. 782] : The Water Act creates a greatly improved system of regulating the water industry which will benefit the customer and the environment. The appointment of the Director General of Water Services is a key component. As director, Ian Byatt will
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ensure that customers are protected against unnecessary price increases. At the same time he will ensure that the company have sufficient income to carry out their functions properly and to meet quality standards. He will encourage water companies to be more efficient. He will monitor standards of service. He will establish customer service committees which will investigate complaints and provide a forum for customers to put forward their views. Financial provision is being made for the Office of Water Services in vote X.10 from 1 August. As previously announced, the office will begin operations in Birmingham on vesting day, 1 September.Local Government Finance
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the number of single and married persons over and under pensionable age who are likely to qualify for a rebate of poll tax ; and how many of these are likely to be worse off under the new arrangements than at present.
Mr. David Hunt : Estimates of numbers expected to receive community charge benefit are a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Security.
My Department placed in the Library detailed estimates of the impact of the new system on household finances on 15 December 1988.
Mr. Patrick Thompson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish a table illustrating the estimated levels of the community charge in England and Wales in the current financial year if the cost of education were to be borne entirely by the Exchequer.
Mr. David Hunt : If the cost of education were to be funded by the Exchequer and in consequence an equal amount were deducted from the level of grant available to local authorities, the average community charge in England would be £274, as shown in the illustrative community charge levels placed in the Library on 19 July 1989. The level of community charge in each area would depend on the previous arrangements used to distribute the remaining Government grant and the proceeds of the uniform business rate.
Mr. Madden : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what liability to poll tax young people over 18 years of age in recognised apprenticeship schemes will face ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) what liability to poll tax those over 18 years of age who are placed with employment training and other training schemes will face ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. David Hunt : The people to whom the hon. Member refers will be liable to pay the personal community charge at the address of their sole or main residence unless they are exempt under the terms of schedule 1 to the Local Government Finance Act 1988. Depending on their income, resources and personal circumstances they may be eligible for rebates of up to 80 per cent. of the charge ; if they are full-time students as defined by the Personal Community Charge (Students) Regulations 1989 they would pay only 20 per cent. of the personal charge for the area.
Mr. Canavan : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his estimate of (a) the maximum and (b) the minimum initial standard community charge for each of the London boroughs.
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Mr. David Hunt : I have made no estimate of the level of the community charge on introduction. Illustrative figures based on 1989-90 local government responsibilities and expenditure levels were placed in the Library on 19 July. The level of each class of standard community charge payable in each area will depend on the multiplier set by each charging authority.
Mr. Nellist : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will update the answer to the hon. Member for Coventry, South-East, 2 May, Official Report, column 50, listing all recent sources of legislation and official guidance on the operation of the community charge, and any further orders and regulations (a) laid before and agreed to by the House, (b) laid before, but not yet agreed to by the House or (c) yet to be laid before the House giving in each case an outline of the area of implementation affected.
Mr. David Hunt [holding answer 29 July 1989] : The following are the official sources of information and guidance about the operation of the community charge.
1. Legislation
July 1988
Local Government Finance Act, 1988
Housing and Local Government Bill
2. Regulations laid before Parliament
March 1989
Community Charges (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1989 (SI 1989/438)
March 1989
Valuation and Community Charge Tribunals Regulations 1989 (SI 1989/439)
March 1989
Valuation and Community Charge Tribunals (Transfer of Jurisdiction) Regulations 1989 (SI 1989/440)
March 1989
The Personal Community Charge (Students) Regulations 1989 (SI 1989/443)
March 1989
The Personal Community Charge (Exemptions) Order 1989 (SI 1989/442)
June 1989
The Community Charges (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 1989 (SI 1989/1057)
July 1989
The Community Charge Benefits (General) Regulations 1989 3. Regulation to be laid before Parliament
These will cover the following areas :
Exchange of information between Community Charges Registration Officers in Scotland and CCROs in England and Wales
Properties occupied by ministers of religion
Form of demand note and accompanying information
Discounts
Co-owners
4. Community Charge Practice Notes
The Government, in conjunction with the local authority associations, are publishing a series of community charge practice notes. These provide detailed advice on the operation of the community charge and are circulated to local authority
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practitioners and others with a professional interest in community charge. The following practice notes have been issued to date : May 1988An Introduction to the Community Charge
June 1988
Exemptions
August 1988
The Register
August 1988
Data Protection
August 1988
Rebates
October 1988
Omission of Names from the Extract
October 1988
Appeals
November 1988
The Canvass
November 1988
Sole or Main Residence
January 1989
Data Protection No. 2
February 1989
Billing
February 1989
Collection
March 1989
Standard Charge
April 1989
Collective Charge
April 1989
Joint and Several Liability
May 1989
UK Service Personnel
May 1989
Diplomats and Visiting Forces
5. Other Publications
My Department is producing guidance for the general public on the community charge by means of a free booklet and series of supplementary free leaflets. Publications so far issued in this series are :-
December 1988
"You and the Community Charge :
(Your Step by Step Guide)"
March 1989
"You and the Community Charge :
Exemptions"
June 1989
"You and the Community Charge :
Appeals"
June 1989
"You and the Community Charge :
Students"
June 1989
"You and the Community Charge :
Second Homes"
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