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Written Answers to Questions
Monday 23 April 1990
THE ARTS
Nottingham Playhouse
Mr. Allen : To ask the Minister for the Arts what information he has on the trading position of the Nottingham Playhouse.
Mr. Luce : I understand that an agreement has been reached between the Arts Council and the local authorities to clear the overall deficit of the Nottingham Playhouse by the end of 1992-93.
ENVIRONMENT
Rented Accommodation
Mr. Roy Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will make a statement on the supply of rented accommodation and market rents.
Mr. Chope : Housing associations are now the main providers of new subsidised rented housing. Planned public expenditure through the Housing Corporation will double to over £1.7 billion by 1992-93 ; together with the increased scope for associations to use private finance, total output of rented housing by associations and local authorities in England is expected to rise to nearly 40,000 by that year. Council and housing association housing benefits from subsidies which keep rents generally far below market levels, and housing benefit meets up to 100 per cent. of rent for the poorest tenants.
River Pollution
Mr. Thurnham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many prosecutions for river pollution have been carried out by the National Rivers Authority.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : I understand that since 1 September last year, when the National Rivers Authority fully assumed its
responsibilities under the Water Act 1989, some 870 prosecutions for river pollution offences have been brought by the NRA or are pending.
London Docklands Development Corporation
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what has been the total advertising and publicity budget for the London Docklands development corporation for each year since its creation ; and what is the estimate for the next three years.
Mr. Moynihan : The information requested is as follows :
|c|Publicity and promotion
expenditure|c|
|£000's
---------------------------
1981-82 |961
1982-83 |2,464
1983-84 |1,857
1984-85 |2,253
1985-86 |1,716
1986-87 |1,728
1987-88 |1,846
1988-89 |1,826
1989-90 |<1>1,960
1990-91 |<2>3,500
1991-92 |<2>3,200
1992-93 |<2>3,100
<1> Provisional.
<2> Estimated.
Waste Disposal
Sir Charles Morrison : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the research and development projects currently being undertaken into waste disposal by his Department and related agencies, also giving the cost of each project.
Mr. Trippier : The research projects currently undertaken by the Department of the Environment into waste management are listed, together with the total cost of each project.
There are three areas of research :
A. Materials Processing. The aim here is to research the provision of safe and effective alternatives to landfilling and also the feasibility of various separation and recovery processes.
Title |Total
|Cost £k
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Byker reclamation plant; front-end trommel and
associated equipment |344.6
Waste analysis research |152.0
Analysis and estimation of municipal waste arisings |61.5
Incineration characteristics from burning WDF pellets
in a coal fired boiler |138.6
Waste collection characteristics from selected zones of
Nottingham |16.0
Composting of WD fines from Castle Bromwich |118.1
Investigation of incinerator furnace conditions |95.0
Small incinerator investigation |73.5
Improving the effectiveness of civic amenity sites and of
complementary waste management services |187.6
Municipal waste composting |185.0
Thermal treatment of waste |89.0
Waste Treatment and recovery |230.0
Environmental impact of municipal solid waste
incinerators |68.0
A study of airborne micro-organisms |29.2
B. Problem Waste Management. Research in this area is conducted on the immobilisation of difficult wastes or their chemical, thermal or biological detoxification.
Title |Total
|Cost (£k)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Biotechnical systems for the degradation of heavy
metals and persistent organic materials |928.4
Determination of analytical procedures to define
dioxins and furans in soils and to assay soil
samples |412.0
Stabilisation of organic wastes in clay/cement mixes
using quaternary amonium compounds |257
Anaerobic degradation of polychlorinated biphenyls |66.0
Toxic and problem waste management |719.6
Polychlorinated biphenyl disposal using cement |98.1
Asbestos site database study |25.5
A review of clinical waste management systems |32.0
Waste management |323.1
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C. Landfill Practices. This is by far the largest area of research. The aims here are to develop a thorough understanding of the processes occuring within landfills to ensure safe and effective landfilling of wastes, to allow for the optimisation of landfilling as a waste management technique and to provide reassurance as to the acceptability of landfills as a disposal option.Landfill research covers five topics :
|c|(i) the microbiology of landfills and studies of landfill gas
and|c|
leachate composition and generation.
Title |Total
|Cost
|(£k)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Mathematical modelling of landfill behaviour |207.7
A review of the technical aspects of co-disposal |27.4
Landfill characterisation relative to methane incidence |429.5
Biotechnical methods of stabilising landfills |282.5
Assessment of landfill gas potential by the
interpretation of leachate and gas analysis |75.1
Landfill management |396.9
Methane oxidation in soils |74.1
A study of landfill gas in the Llanharry area |20.0
A review of research into landfill microbiology |19.4
Inhibition of methane production |108.2
Comparison of landfill gas potential tests |55.7
|c|(ii) Studies of the mechanisms of attenuation of leachate and
gas|c|
Title |Total
|cost
|(£k)
------------------------------------------------------------------
Attenuation of organic leachate in a sand blanket
beneath the Washington landfill. |63.2
Instrumentation of a permeable liner in the base of
Stangate-East landfill. |279.7
The effectiveness of an impermeable clay liner formed
in situ. |49.6
A study of the migration of organic contaminants from
Pakefield waste disposal site. |25.0
Control of landfill gas migration by passive venting. |49.0
Automated measurements of aquifer dispersivity. |252.0
Assessment of the problems associated with the
landfilling of wastes and the effectiveness of
remedial measures. |219.9
Leachate attentuation studies. |23.0
The development of a numerical method for modelling
gas flows from landfill sites and experimental
studies of gas flow through selected porous
materials. |379.5
|c|(iii) leachate management studies|c|
Title |Total
|Cost
|(£k)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Leachate treatment by irrigation to grass and
woodland |122.6
Landfill research |1,025.4
Reed-bed treatment of landfill leachate |90.0
Leachate treatment to surface water quality standards
using reed bed polishing |98.0
Sulphate based anaerobic digestion of leachate |69.5
Leachate management systems |66.6
Management of the environmental effects of landfill
disposal of waste |242.9
A review of leachate composition, attenuation and
treatment |84.9
An investigation of the chemical, physical and
hydrological properties of refuse |142.2
|c|(iv) the development of monitoring procedures|c|
Title |Total
|Cost
|(£k)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The use of carbon/hydrogen isotope ratios to identify
methane sources |96.1
Appraisal of hazards related to landfill gas production
and the development of a simple procedure to
evaluate associated risks |92.0
Long path gas monitor development |45.6
Landfill sampling and monitoring |43.5
Gas migration modelling |34.1
|c|(v) landfill reinstatement studies|c|
Title |Total
|Cost
|(£k)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Assessment of the integrity of clay capping to landfills |35.3
The effectiveness of the cap at Milton landfill |143.0
A study of fungal activity in promoting tree growth on
landfills |43.2
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish a list of those waste disposal sites in England known to his Department where mass disposal of tyres has taken place.
Mr. Trippier : Records of sites used for the disposal of waste tyres are not held centrally. However, HMIP knows of some 400 closed or active sites which have been licensed to take scrap rubber, including tyres.
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish a list of all former waste disposal sites in England that are known to contain PCBs in drums.
Mr. Trippier : No such information is available. However in waste management paper No. 6 (1976) on the reclamation, treatment and disposal of PCBs, the Department recommends that where recovery is not possible, PCBs should generally be disposed of by high temperature incineration.
Local Government Finance
Mr. French : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to the answer of the hon. Member for Southampton, Itchen (Mr. Chope), to the hon. Member for Gloucester of 4 April, if local authorities are obliged to reveal on request whether they are levying a standard community charge at less than twice the personal community charge.
Mr. Chope : Where a charging authority has specified a class of property for the purposes of setting a different multiplier from that generally applied, it is required to publish a notice giving details of the exercise of the power in at least one local newspaper within 21 days of making the specification. Authorities are required to give information on their standard community charges in their standard charge demand notices. It follows therefore that they should be able to give details of their classes and multipliers to those who ask for them.
Mr. Hardy : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the local authorities which would have been placed under capping arrangements under the community charge regulations had he not imposed the qualification on spending levels.
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Mr. Chope : I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave him on 20 April 1990, Official Report , column 1031 .Mr. Hardy : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he proposes to inform directly all those local authorities which have not been subject to capping that he approves the particular community charge which applies in those areas.
Mr. David Porter : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a further statement about the community charge liability of seafarers and offshore workers who spend significant parts of the year away from their homes and who have no second homes.
Mr. Chope : As I explained to my hon. Friend on 21 March Official Report , column 660 , and 3 April, Official Report , column 564 , it is initially the responsibility of the community charge registration officer to decide whether a person is solely or mainly resident in his area. In this respect offshore workers are no different from any other potential charge payer. It is open to charge payers to appeal to their local valuation and community charge tribunal against their entry on the community charges register.
Mr. Strang : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the number of people employed full time in each region of England, Scotland and Wales in the collection of the community charge.
Mr. Chope : This information is not available.
Mr. Allen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much money is tied up in banks because of the Government's refusal to allow local authorities to spend capital receipts (a) in the United Kingdom and (b) in Nottingham city council.
Mr. Chope [holding answer 18 April 1990] : Local authority debt in England at March 1989 was some£46 billion, of which Nottingham city council's debt was £424 million. One of the objectives of the new capital finance system provided in the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 is that local authorities should use some of their capital receipts to reduce their indebtedness. Accordingly capital receipts are divided into a reserved part to be set aside as provision for credit liabilities and a usable balance.
The reserved part may be used at any time to repay debt, to meet liabilities under credit arrangements, or, where a credit approval has been used as authority not to charge expenditure to a revenue account, to meet that expenditure as a substitute for external borrowing.
The usable part may be applied at any time and at the discretion of the authority concerned to meet expenditure incurred for capital purposes or as voluntary provision for credit liabilities. There are no capital receipts which, under the legislation now in force, local authorities in England cannot use.
My right hon. Friend has no ministerial responsibility for local authority capital finance in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
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Water Distribution
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will estimate the percentage of water in England and Wales that is lost by avoidable leakage in distribution.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : I refer the hon. Member to the answer that I gave on 24 January to the hon. Member for Truro (Mr. Taylor) (Official Report, c. 762 ).
Bathing Water
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will now issue formal detailed implementation advice for the EC bathing waters directive (76/160/EEC) to the National Rivers Authority.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The National Rivers Authority is the competent authority in England and Wales for the purposes of implementing the EC bathing waters directive (76/160/EEC). The Directive contains details of the standards to be attained at identified bathing waters and the arrangements for monitoring water quality. I have no plans to issue further implementation advice to the National Rivers Authority.
Mrs. Ann Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what is the reason for excluding monitoring for salmonella and enteroviruses from the result of the bathing water survey which is announced to Parliament ;
(2) if he will give figures for the number of designated beaches which comply with the EC bathing water directive if the parameters for salmonella and enteroviruses are taken into account.
Mr. Trippier : The report that I placed in the Library, as stated in the Official Report, 25 January 1990, column 485, contains the available results for salmonella and enteroviruses.
European Council
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to the reply given to the hon. Member for Gedling (Mr. Mitchele, Official Report, 27 March, columns 117-18, if he will publish in the Official Report the representations from the United Kingdom which were considered at the Environment Council on 22 March during the debate on whether to establish a European environmental agency.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The main terms of the regulation to establish a European Environment Agency were agreed at the Environment Council on 28 November 1989. The Environment Council on 22 March 1990 considered a number of amendments to the regulation put forward by the European Parliament. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment stressed the importance of recognising that the European Parliament had tried hard to produce amendments which would be acceptable to the Council and that the European Parliament's proposal for a review of the agency's tasks after two years made good sense. This view was accepted by the Council.
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Wells
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what consideration he is giving to the introduction of grants to enable people residing near suitable sites to sink wells to extract potable water.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : My right hon. Friend has no plans at present to introduce specific grants for this purpose. Grants are available under the Rural Water Supplies and Sewerage Acts towards the cost of first-time connections to mains water supplies in rural areas. In addition, part VIII of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, which is expected to come into force on 1 July 1990, provides for a new system of renovation grants. In certain circumstances, a renovation grant may be available to improve the quality of the water supply to a property which does not have an adequate piped supply of wholesome water and is thereby unfit for human habitation. It will be for the local authority concerned to specify what improvements are necessary and to consider any application for a grant towards their cost.
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the quality of drinking water from private wells.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The quality standards in the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations made under the Water Act 1989 apply to private drinking water supplies. Local authorities are required to keep themselves informed about the quality of private supplies in their area and have powers under the Water Act to require improvements to be made to unwholesome supplies. An advisory group is currently considering the content of further regulations to be made later this year about the sampling programmes that local authorities will be required to carry out for private supplies.
Residential Developments (Soil Contamination)
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish a list of former waste disposal sites in England on which residential development has taken place without monitoring for possible contaminants transferred to garden vegetables grown on such sites.
Mr. Trippier : No such information is held centrally. Decisions on the monitoring and assessment of former waste disposal sites for further use, including development purposes, are the responsibility of local authorities have relevant duties under town and country planning and public health legislation.
Housing Corporation
Mrs. Mahon : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he last met the chairman of the Housing Corporation ; and what was discussed.
Mr. Chope : My right hon. Friend met the chairman of the Housing Corporation on 8 February and my hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning had a further meeting with him on 21 February. A variety of topics of mutual interest were discussed.
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Smoke Emissions
Mrs. Ann Taylor : to ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what proportion of the black smoke emitted by road transport reported in his Department's statistical digest No. 12, page 14, is estimated to come from diesel vehicles ; what are the relative contributions of diesel smoke and smoke from domestic sources to overall smoke emissions in smoke control areas ; and what information he has about the relative soiling effects of diesel smoke in comparison with coal smoke.
Mr. Trippier : It is estimated that 184,000 tonnes of black smoke was emitted by road transport in 1988 and that 92 per cent. of emissions from transport came from diesel vehicles.
Information is not available for the relative soiling effects of diesel smoke in comparison with coal smoke, or for the relative contributions of diesel smoke and smoke from domestic sources to overall smoke emissions in smoke control areas. Emissions of black smoke from domestic sources for the United Kingdom as a whole have fallen by approximately 71 per cent. since 1970, while emissions from diesel vehicles have risen by 86 per cent. over the same period.
Sites of Special Scientific Interest
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many sites of special scientific interest have been (a) denotified and (b) damaged for each year since 1981 ; and what percentage for each year is related to (i) road building, (ii) forestry, (iii) farming activities, (iv) landfill operations and (v) other reasons.
Mr. Trippier : The information is not available in the form requested. Since 1 April 1984, information on the numbers of SSSIs damaged is set out in the Nature Conservancy Council's annual reports, copies of which are in the Library.
Ozone-depleting Substances
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he is taking to eliminate the use of ozone-depleting substances in (a) refrigerants, (b) solvents and (c) foams ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Trippier : The ozone layer can be protectd only by international action. The Montreal protocol is due for revision in June. We are pressing for rapid cuts in the supply of CFCs, halons and carbon tetrachloride, with their elimination by the year 2000. Methyl chloroform must also be cut substantially. If the revised protocol is not strong enough, we will press for further restrictions within the European Community.
Wild Birds (Poisoning)
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has made an assessment of the impact on populations of wild birds of exposure to pesticide cocktails ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Trippier : The Advisory Committee on Pesticides set up by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food assesses the environmental implication of all pesticides before their use is approved. Approval
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requires the consent of six Departments, including that of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State. As part of its work, the advisory committee will be considering the findings of a recent study by Reading university and the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology into the effect on partridges of concurrent exposure to fungicides and pesticides.Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he is taking to eliminate illegal poisoning of birds of prey ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Trippier : Strict controls are already in place to deter the illegal use of pesticides against birds of prey. Severe penalties are available for such offences under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985, and incidents of abuse are pursued vigorously through the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food wildlife incident investigations scheme. In addition, the Nature Conservancy Council is currently reviewing the matter of illegal poisoning.
Sewage
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Cardiff, West (Mr. Morgan) of 2 April, Official Report, column 478, who will determine whether sewage discharges subjected to primary treatment have an adverse environmental effect.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : It is for the National Rivers Authority to consent applications for discharges to controlled waters taking into account the provisions of any relevant EEC directives, and any directions from my right hon. Friends.
Global Warming
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has made an assessment of the implications for coastal areas of an increase in global warming ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Trippier : The United Kingdom is contributing to the work of the coastal zone management sub-group of the inter-governmental panel on climate change which is assessing the impact of global warming on coastal areas worldwide. Coastal defence in the United Kingdom is the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
Owls
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what is the estimated population in England of (a) barn owls and (b) tawny owls ; and what steps he is taking to protect owl populations ;
(2) what is the estimated annual death toll of (a) barn owls and (b) tawny owls ; and what percentage of deaths in each case are ascribed to (i) traffic, (ii) pesticide or other chemical poisoning, (iii) loss of habitat, (iv) starvation and (v) other causes.
Mr. Trippier : The current British populations of barn owls and tawny owls are estimated at 4,400 and 50,000-100,000 breeding pairs, respectively. Overall annual mortality rates cannot be estimated, but of those birds reported as found dead 30 per cent. of both species had died from collisions with traffic.
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All wild owls in Britain are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 ; the barn owl is included in schedule 1 to the Act as a particularly endangered species protected by special penalties.Sellafield
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what checks have been undertaken to establish atmospheric levels of krypton 85 in the vicinity of Sellafield ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Trippier : Krypton 85 is an inert gas and cannot concentrate in the environment. Checks undertaken in the late 1970s demonstrated that levels of krypton 85 in the environment around Sellafield were consistent with those calculated from measured Sellafield discharges using standard aerial dispersion modelling techniques. No further checks have been carried out.
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what have been the discharge levels of radioactivity to the air in TBq from Sellafield for each year from 1975 to 1989, inclusive.
Mr. Trippier : Data on the radioactive atmospheric discharges from BNFL's Sellafield works are included in my Department's annual "Digest of Environmental Protection and Water Statistics", a copy of which is in the Library of the House. Information for the period 1975-88 is as follows :
|c|Sellafield Aerial Discharges 1975 to 1988|c|
Year Discharges (TBq/Yr)
|Argon-41 |Tritium |Krypton-85
-------------------------------------------------------
1975 |1,110 |444 |44,400
1976 |799 |444 |44,400
1977 |962 |296 |29,600
1978 |1,070 |222 |25,900
1979 |1,150 |280 |34,800
1980 |1,110 |252 |31,100
1981 |1,300 |459 |51,800
1982 |1,320 |360 |44,000
1983 |1,340 |268 |41,800
1984 |1,352 |349 |37,100
1985 |2,800 |268 |23,800
1986 |2,590 |171 |53,300
1987 |2,400 |783 |34,000
1988 |2,420 |186 |39,700
Other radionuclides, of which carbon-14 is the main
component, do not exceed 10 TBq per year.
Information for 1989 is not yet available.
Elephant Conservation
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment who represented Her Majesty's Government at the conference on African elephants in Paris on 5 and 6 April ; and how much was offered by Her Majesty's Government for elephant conservation.
Mr. Trippier : The Government were represented at the conference by officials from the Department of the Environment and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, accompanied by the officer of the Nature Conservancy Council. The British delegation explained to the conference that the Government are already making very substantial efforts to support wildlife conservation in Africa. We are providing some £3 million in aid for a wide variety of projects, a number of which will have major
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benefits for the African elephant, and are always ready to consider new requests from African Governments seeking help with the sustainable management and conservation of their wildlife resources.Ivory
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has regarding ivory imported into the United Kingdom by Mr. Shivaz Virji of Ealing and currently held at ports of entry.
Mr. Trippier : The information held by the Department relates to an application for a CITES re-export licence. Information contained in licence applications is regarded by the Department as confidential and cannot be released.
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has regarding ivory currently held at United Kingdom ports of entry which is not accompanied by CITES documentation.
Mr. Trippier : Such information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Drinking Water (Radon)
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what analysis has been carried out to establish levels of dissolved radon in drinking water ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : Radon in water results from the structure of the ground from which the supply emanates. It is believed to be confined to a few areas. Where radon is likely to be present in a water source, a specific analysis is carried out and the water company may treat the water to remove it, seeking advice on levels from the National Radiological Protection Board. No standard is set for radon in the EC drinking water directive or the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations which incorporate the provisions of the directive. We are currently reviewing the matter of radiological standards.
Carbon Tetrachloride
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the presence of carbon tetrachloride in water sources.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : Carbon tetrachloride is a list I substance under directive 76/464/EEC on discharges of dangerous substances, and its concentrations in surface waters near to the point of discharge may not exceed12 ug/l (annual average). Direct discharges to ground water are banned. There are no specific requirements for carbon tetrachloride in water sources because directive 75/440/EEC on the quality of surface waters abstracted for drinking water does not lay down standards for this substance. However, regulations under the Water Act 1989 require that concentrations in public or private drinking water supplies may not exceed 3 ug/l (annual average). Carbon tetrachloride is not a common problem in water sources ; in the known few occurrences where it has been found in excessive quantities appropriate action has been taken.
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Environmental Meetings
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list all future environmental (a) conferences, (b) seminars and (c) meetings which Ministers in his Department have been invited to attend(i) in the United Kingdom, (ii) in the European Community, and (iii) elsewhere ; and if he will list the dates of these events.
Mr. Trippier : Over the next two months Ministers are to attend the following conferences, seminars and meetings in :
|c|(b) Overseas|c|
Date
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21 to 23 April |Informal EC Council (West of Ireland)
8 to 16 May |Ministerial follow-up to Brundtland Report
| (Bergen)
7 June |EC Environment Council (Luxembourg)
16 June |EC Ministerial meeting with East Europe
| (Dublin)
20 to 29 June |2nd meeting of Montreal Protocol Parties
| (London)
|c|(b) Overseas|c|
Date
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
21 to 23 April |Informal EC Council (West of Ireland)
8 to 16 May |Ministerial follow-up to Brundtland Report
| (Bergen)
7 June |EC Environment Council (Luxembourg)
16 June |EC Ministerial meeting with East Europe
| (Dublin)
20 to 29 June |2nd meeting of Montreal Protocol Parties
| (London)
Foxes
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the estimated population of foxes in England ; and what comparable figures he has for earlier years.
Mr. Trippier : I am not aware of any population estimates for foxes in England.
Caravans (London)
Mr. Cartwright : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will set out the numbers of caravans which can be accommodated on permanent sites provided under the Caravan Sites Act in each of the London boroughs.
Mr. Chope [holding answer 5 April 1990] : London boroughs have made provision for the following numbers of authorised caravan pitches on which the following number of caravans were parked as at January 1990 :
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|Pitches |Caravans
--------------------------------------------------
Barking and Dagenham |16 |16
Bexley |16 |7
Brent |15 |31
Bromley |22 |35
Croydon |15 |15
Ealing |24 |53
Enfield |15 |26
Greenwich |54 |64
Hammersmith and Fulham |20 |50
Haringey |24 |51
Harrow |15 |13
Havering |16 |4
Hillingdon |30 |30
Hounslow |17 |17
Kingston upon Thames |15 |15
Lambeth |15 |23
Lewisham |16 |26
Merton |15 |15
Newham |15 |15
Redbridge |17 |16
Richmond upon Thames |15 |15
Southwark |15 |15
Sutton |15 |15
Tower Hamlets |15 |19
Waltham Forest |16 |13
Wandsworth |12 |11
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