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Written Answers to Questions
Monday 11 June 1990
ENVIRONMENT
Nuclear Waste
Mr. Frank Cook : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if, pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Stockton, North, Official Report, 9 May, column 159, on the disposal of toxic wastes at Atomic Energy Association technology sites, he will make a statement on the specific material provisions for the management and disposal of toxic wastes ; and what financial resources have been committed to the development and execution of the programme.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : It is the UKAEA policy to minimise toxic waste arising so far as is reasonably practicable and to dispose of any arisings in accordance with legal authorisations. Costs incurred by the UKAEA are part of the normal operating costs of each site.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Quentin Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what would be the net incremental cost of exempting from the community charge (a) all persons over the age of 70 years and (b) all persons above the age of 75 years, taking into account the number of such persons already receiving rebate, transitional relief or exemption from the charge by reason of residence in registered residential or nursing homes or others.
Mr. Chope : I estimate the additional cost of exempting persons over the age of 70 from the community charge would be about £950 million whilst exempting persons over 75 would be about £600 million. Both figures are in addition to reductions already received in respect of transitional relief and community charge benefit.
Mr. Neil Hamilton : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will produce in tabular form for each district council in England and Wales the percentage figure of non-payment of the community charge.
Mr. Chope : This information is not available.
Mr. Richard Shepherd : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, further to his oral reply of 23 May to the hon. Member for Dartford (Mr. Dunn) Official Report, column 280, when he expects to be in a position to reply to the letters of the hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills of 19 March and 10 May concerning proposals by Walsall councillors to direct resources and services away from wards on the basis of how they vote.
Mr. Chope : I have now written to the hon. Member.
Housing, Basildon
Mrs. Gorman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what is the average value of a Basildon new town corporation three- bedroomed house ;
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(2) what is the average length of tenancy in a three-bedroomed Basildon new town corporation home.Mr. Chope : The information is not collected in the form requested. The Commission for the New Towns in Basildon estimates the open market value of a typical three-bedroomed house to be £57,000, and the average length of tenancy to be 18 years.
Druridge Bay
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received from the Northumberland wildlife trust and others regarding sand extraction at Druridge bay ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Moynihan : I have received no representations from the Northumberland wildlife trust. Representations have been received from the hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Mr. Beith) and Councillor K. L. P. Flaherty of Northumberland county council that the Secretary of State use his powers under the Town and Country Planning Act 1971 to revoke the planning permissions for sand extraction. However, the county council has the necessary powers themselves under the 1971 Act to review mineral working sites in their area and to revoke or modify planning permissions as they consider necessary.
Environmental Assessment Directive
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment to whom his Department has let the contract for monitoring the implementation of the environmental assessment directive ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Moynihan : The contract for the research project on "Monitoring Environmental Assessment and Planning" was let to the EIA centre of the university of Manchester's department of planning and landscape on 3 May 1990.
Nature Conservation
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will obtain a copy of "Economics of the Environment : the Conservationists' Response to the Pearce Report", produced by the British Association of Nature Conservationists for his departmental library.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : My Department already has a copy of this publication and I understand that a second is on order.
Marine Pollution
Mr. Ron Davies : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what plans he has to reduce the imput of dichloros into the marine environment, in accordance with its red list status ; (2) what records he has of the inputs of dichloros into the marine environment for each of the last five years ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : It is estimated that around 15 tonnes of dichloros were input to United Kingdom coastal waters in 1989 ; figures are not available for earlier years. At the recent North sea conference, Ministers agreed that inputs of dichloros into the North sea should be reduced by the order of 50 per cent. by 1995. The Government intend that such a reduction should be achieved for inputs to all seas around the United Kingdom.
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Recycling
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment to whom his Department has let the contract for the removal, sorting and recycling of waste paper and other waste from the Palace of Westminster ; how long they have had the contract ; and what guarantees have been written into the contract to ensure that no paper set aside for recycling ends up in landfill.
Mr. Chope : Following competitive tendering a contract for the disposal of waste from the Palace of Westminster was let to the city of Westminster cleansing department on 1 November 1988 for three years. The paper is collected free of charge as salvage so it is in the contractor's own interest to ensure that it is used to the greatest economic advantage.
Commission for Local Administration
Mr. Andrew F. Bennett : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much the service of the Commission for Local Administration in England costs ; and what steps have been taken in recent years to measure the efficiency of the service.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The grant to the Commission for Local Administration in England for 1990-91 will be £3,834,119. Management consultants carried out a study of the working of the commission in 1989.
Planning Application, Brentwood
Mr. Fearn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he is considering calling in planning application No. BRW/772/89 Wash road, new industrial area, Brentwood.
Mr. Moynihan : Brentwood district council has been directed not to grant permission for this application without the consent of the Secretary of State. As the application affects land in the green belt, the district council have decided to advertise and consider the application formally when they publish their draft district-wide local plan for public consultation. At that stage, we will consider whether or not the application should be called in.
Beaches
Mr. Fearn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will take steps to require the water companies to clean up the beaches which do not meet the safety standards set by the European Community within a stated time limit.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : My right hon. Friend announced on 5 March at column 452 that in general all municipal sewage should receive secondary treatment, but that primary treatment would be more appropriate for discharges to sea where it can be shown that this does not adversely affect the environment. The estimated cost of this new programme is around £1.5 billion. It will be fully integrated with the £1.4 billion programme announced last year to improve bathing water quality and it will be completed as soon as practicable. Discussions with the National Rivers Authority, the Office of Water Services and the sewage undertakers are taking place to work out the arrangements for implementing this policy.
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Reservoir Pollution
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what research he has commissioned following human poisoning and pollution by blue-green algae of reservoirs ; and what action he proposes to take to prevent a similar occurence this summer.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : My Department has not commissioned any research following the occurrence of toxic algae in reservoirs and lakes. However, the National Rivers Authority has just announced a monitoring campaign to detect the occurence of potentially toxic blue-green algae at some 500 sites concentrating on those which are used regularly for water sports and to which the public has ready access. The NRA has at the same time issued a leaflet which incorporates advice from the Department of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food about the effect of toxic algae on humans and health. There is no evidence that treated water supplied from reservoirs with algal blooms is detrimental to public health.
Environmental Conferences
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list all the future environmental conferences, seminars and meetings which Ministers or officials in his Department will be attending in the next four months and the date of each.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : Over the next four months Ministers are to attend the following environmental conferences, seminars and meetings :
June
7-8 EC Environment Council (Luxembourg)
8 British Steel Tin Plate Environment Programme
12 92nd Annual Waste Management Conference
16 EC/Eastern Europe/EFTA Environment Meeting (Dublin)
19 National Council for Voluntary Organisations White Paper Seminar
20-24 Opening Green Show (Birmingham)
20-29 Second meeting of Montreal Protocol Parties (London) 21 International Building Bureau Conference on Energy Efficient Buildings (London)
21 Mineral Industry Research Organisation Conference on Mineral Wastes
24 Sevenoaks Summer Festival-Environmental Question Time 25 East Midlands Recycling City Seminar
26 Association of Municipal Engineers Annual Conference 27 Food, Industry and the Environment Conference
29 Fourth Environmental Education Conference for Secondary Schools
July
3 United Kingdom Environmental Law Association Conference on the Protection of the Rural Environment
4 Royal Society for the Arts Conference on The Future of the Countryside
9-10 European Parliament (Strasbourg)
10 Department of Trade and Industry Seminar on Waste
11-12 Meeting with senior officials at the OECD (Paris) 17 Engineers and the Environment Conference
August
1-3 Session of UNEP Governing Council (Nairobi)
September
10 Institution of Environmental Health Officers Congress 12 Landcape Conference on Landscape Design (Durham)
13 Business in the Environment Conference
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18 UNEP Seminar on Clean Technology20 International Conference on Acid Deposition and Implications 21 Royal Institute of Public Administration Conference on Greening the Administration
25 National Association of Waste Disposal Contractors Annual Conference
October
4 EC Environment Council (Luxembourg)
4 Polite Society Conference on Noise
5 Somerset County Council Environmental Conference
Officials will be attending all of these meetings and many more.
Correspondence
Mr. Pawsey : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when the hon. Member for Rugby and Kenilworth will be sent a reply to his letter of 26 March concerning Mr. and Mrs. R. F. Morgan of Kenilworth.
Mr. Chope : I replied to my hon. Friend's letter on 7 June.
Regional Planning
Sir David Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he will publish the policy planning guidance note on structure plans and regional planning guidance.
Mr. Michael Spicer : Planning Policy Guidance Note 15, entitled "Regional Planning Guidance, Structure Plans and the Content of Development Plans", was published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office on 25 May. I shall send my hon. Friend a copy.
Oil Pollution, South Devon
Mr. Steen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether any oil pollution still remains on the south Devon coastline following the holing of the supertanker Rosebay.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : I understand from reports received from the South Hams district council, which, as the affected local authority in Devon, has the responsibility for dealing with oil pollution once it is washed ashore, that all holiday beaches in their area are clear.
The local authority is continuing to monitor beaches but there are no reports of further oil landing apart from a small quantity sighted at Hope Cove and Thurleston over the weekend of 2-3 June. There is still some oily scum around the more isolated rocky coves and some remaining bagged oily waste will be cleared from Gull and Causewell coves this week.
Mr. Steen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he is taking to find suitable sites for the long-term storage and ultimate dumping of polluted sand and seaweed scraped off the beaches of the south Devon coastline ; and if he will make a statement as to progress to date and the proposed timetable.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : The responsibility for identifying sites for the storage and disposal of polluted sand and seaweed lies with Devon county council as the relevant waste disposal authority.
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I understand from the Department of Transport's marine pollution control unit, which set up a joint response centre with the local authorities involved in the clean-up operations following the incident, that the county council are currently considering, on the basis of MPCU advice, various options for the treatment and disposal of the oily waste collected.These options include : assisting the natural degradation of the oil by bacterial treatment prior to disposal to a registered landfill site ; stabilising the material to prevent further leaching of oil by treatment with quicklime and then, either disposal to landfill or use of the stabilised waste as a bedding for road building or car park construction.
The timetable will be set by the method eventually chosen and the wish of the county council to avoid any adverse traffic effects that might be caused during the busy summer season by the movement of the mass of collected material.
This material amounts to approximately 1,500 cubic metres and is currently being held in temporary lined holding sites.
Hunterprint
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether the company Hunterprint had, or has outstanding, any printing contracts for work associated with the privatisation of the water industry.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : Hunterprint was employed last year as sub- contractors to Burrups for the printing of water privatisation documents. There are no outstanding contracts with the company.
Hydrofluorocarbons
Ms. Quin : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if his Department is to propose any controls on HFCs for non-essential usage.
Methyl Chloroform
Ms. Quin : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his Department's policy on phasing out the use of methyl chloroform ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : It is the Government's aim ultimately to phase out all ozone depleting substances. In response to a United Kingdom initiative, the EC Environment Council have agreed to press for a 50 per cent. cut in methyl chloroform production and consumption by the year 2000 in the renegotiation of the Montreal Protocol.
Urban Organisation
Mr. Wray : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what support Her Majesty's Government are giving to the European Community proposals on the protection of people living in big European cities against health and environmental hazards produced by bad urban organisation.
Mr. Moynihan [holding answer 8 June 1990] : I have not seen the proposals described although I understand that
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the European Commission is publishing a Green Paper on the urban environment. The Green Paper will be the subject of consultation with member states and we will give it careful consideration.Wildlife Protection
Mr. Michael : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list his responsibilities in relation to Her Majesty's Government's responsibilities and policies on the worldwide protection of wildlife.
Mr. Heathcoat-Amory : Formal responsibility for the conclusion of all international agreements and conventions rests with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. Within the context of collective Government responsibility, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment implements our obligations under the Washington convention on international trade in endangered species (CITES), the Ramsar convention on wetlands of international importance, the Bonn convention on the conservation of migratory species of wild animals and the convention for the protection of the world cultural and natural heritage. He also has responsibility for formulating the United Kingdom's contribution to the world-wide development of those conventions.
ENERGY
Nuclear Power Stations
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what was the annual load factor achieved by (a) the Central Electricity Generating Board nuclear power stations and (b) the South of Scotland electricity board nuclear power stations for each month within the last financial year ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Baldry : This is an operational matter for Nuclear Electric plc and Scottish Nuclear Limited.
Gas Turbine Electricity, Wales
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what proposals he has received for the private generation of electrictity by gas turbines by DREH Resources of Milton Keynes in Clwyd and Wales ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Baldry : On 24 May 1990 Deeside Power Development Company Ltd., in which I understand that DREH resources is a partner, notified my Department, pursuant to regulation 6(1) of the Electricity and Pipe-line Works (Assessment of Environmental Effects) Regulations 1990, of its intention to make an application for the Secretary of State's consent under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 to construct a 450 MW combined cycle gas turbine power station at Shotton in Clwyd and to submit an environmental statement with its application.
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what assessment he has made of the impact upon the Merseyside and North-Western electricity board of proposals to construct a gas turbine electricity station in Clwyd ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Tony Baldry : This is a matter for MANWEB plc.
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Connah's Quay Power Station
Mr. Barry Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement on the future of Connah's Quay power station ; and what is the estimated value of Connah's Quay power station and its surrounding land.
Mr. Baldry : Decisions on the future of power station sites are a matter for the day-to-day management of the generating company concerned. The estimated value of a power station is a commercially confidential matter.
Radiation and Nuclear Waste
Mr. Mullin : To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he has any plans to establish a scheme to assist redundant or former nuclear scientists of the Atomic Energy Authority and Nuclear Electric to provide technical assistance to foreign nuclear generators in radiation and nuclear waste management under article IV of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
Mr. Baldry : No, though the United Kingdom makes every effort to meet its obligations under the terms of article IV of the nuclear non- proliferation treaty.
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