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Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to ensure automatic public inquiries for all proposals affecting sites of special scientific interest where there is an outstanding objection from the statutory country conservation agency.
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what penalties are currently employed by his Department for the damage or destruction of a site of special scientific interest ; and if he has any plans to extend such penalties.
Mr. Maclean : English Nature is empowered to enforce the provisions of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in cases of damage to sites of special scientific interest. The levels of fines is a matter for my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary, but there are no plans for changes.
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the current monitoring system utilised for sites of special scientific interest ; how much is allocated for such monitoring by his Department ; and what plans he has to upgrade such monitoring.
Mr. Maclean : I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 11 June 1992, Official Report, column 260. During 1992-93 English Nature has budgeted to spend £18.1 million on the safeguarding of designated sites, including monitoring activities.
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will establish a United Kingdom-wide system of positive incentives for sites of special scientific interest management.
Mr. Maclean : English Nature's wildlife enhancement scheme is a pilot project to assist owners and occupiers to undertake land management which is beneficial to the wildlife interests of SSSIs. English Nature will also be giving grants to county wildlife trusts under its reserves
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enhancement scheme for a similar purpose. These are important initiatives, but they will need to be evaluated before decisions are taken on whether they should be available more generally.Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his practice to include specific references in environmental statements deposited under Standing Order 27A (environmental assessment) to each site of special scientific interest affected by works proposed in private Bills.
Sir George Young : The preparation and content of environmental statements deposited with private Bills under SO 27A is a matter for the promoters of the Bill, subject to the requirement that the statement shall generally contain, in relation to the works authorised by the Bill, the information set out in schedule 3 to the Town and Country Planning (Assessment of Environmental Effects) Regulations 1988. This includes information about the site and the likely effects of the proposed development on the environment by reference to its possible impact on flora, fauna, soil, water and the landscape. While there is no specific requirement for environmental statements to identify SSSIs likely to be affected by the development proposed, they are expected to do so.
Contaminated Land
Mr. Pawsey : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what representations he has received from local authorities about the compilation of the contaminated land register ;
(2) what is the current number of registrations on the contaminated land register ; and what is the expected eventual size of the register ;
(3) what provision exists for the removal of names from the contaminated land register ;
(4) how it is intended to fund the decontamination of contaminated land.
Mr. Maclean : During the 1991 consultation exercise on registers of land which may be contaminated, which local authorities are to compile under section 143 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, some 200 responses were received from local authorities and their representative associations. Many further letters on aspects of registers have been received since the end of consultation. The statutory requirement for local authorities to compile registers has not yet commenced, so no sites have been entered on registers. It is not possible at this stage to forecast the number of sites which will be registered.
Registers are to record all land which is, or has been, subject to specific contaminative uses to be listed in regulations. Sites will not be removed from registers unless it is shown that the entry was due to a factual error concerning the site's use.
Government financial assistance for treatment of contamination at derelict sites is available under derelict land grant. The criteria for this grant give a high priority to schemes involving treatment of severe contamination. The Government are also making resources available to local authorities by means of supplementary credit approvals for investigation and treatment of contamination of land where it is not practicable to recover the costs of these works from those responsible.
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Mr. David Marshall : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answer of 14 May, Official Report, column 198, to the hon. Member for Newport, West (Mr. Flynn), when he expects to publish the contaminated land register ; and if he will make a statement.Mr. Maclean : Local authorities will be required under section 143 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to compile public registers of land which may be contaminated and in due course to publish them. The detailed specifications for registers are still under consideration, but an announcement on how the Government intend to proceed will be made shortly.
Compliance Monitoring
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many cases of compliance monitoring are currently being undertaken by Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution of those previously having been found to have been in breach of pollution standards ; and what is the average frequency in such cases.
Mr. Maclean : Compliance monitoring is carried out on all processes authorised under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Radioactive Substances Act 1960. The prescribed inspection frequency depends on the type of process, the operator competence ratings and the pollution release potential of the process.
House Condition Survey
Sir Malcolm Thornton : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to publish the results of the 1991 house condition survey ; and whether he will now make a preliminary statement on its findings.
Mr. Baldry : The results of the 1991 English house condition survey will be published in 1993. No findings are yet available as data are still being collected and processed.
Grants
Sir John Hannam : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much money was allocated for improvement and repairs grants to each local authority in England for 1991-92 and 1992-93.
Sir George Young : Resources are not allocated to local authorities solely for expenditure on grants for repairs and improvements. Each authority receives an overall allowance for specified capital grant, as part of its annual housing investment programme allocation, to support private sector renewal work, including house renovation grants. This covers the Exchequer contribution towards their expenditure--75 per cent. in the case of grants. Figures for specified capital grant received by each local authority for 1991-92 and 1992-93 are given in the HIP allocation tables for the local authorities in England, copies of which are available in the Library.
Sir John Hannam : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment for each quarter from July to September 1990 onwards, what was the number of (a) applications and (b) approvals in England for (i) renovation grants,(ii) disabled facilities grants and (iii) minor works assistance.
Sir George Young : Figures for the numbers of approvals of mandatory and discretionary renovation
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grants and disabled facilities grants, together with approvals of minor works assistance, in England are shown in the quarterly publication "Housing and Construction Statistics : Part 2"-- tables 2.17, 2.19 and 2.21 respectively. Copies of this publication are in the Library.The latest edition of this publication gives figures up to the December quarter 1991. Figures for the March quarter 1992 are as follows :
Applications approved: England: March
quarter 1992
|Numbers of
|grants
---------------------------------------------
Renovation grants:
Mandatory |8,700
Discretionary |1,300
Disabled facilities:
Mandatory |5,000
Discretionary |60
Minor works assistance |7,800
There are no corresponding figures available for the number of applications for these grants.
Sir Malcolm Thornton : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will provide a table setting out the value of home improvement grants in the private sector for each year between 1981 and 1991.
Sir George Young : Figures showing the amount of housing renovation grants paid to private owners and tenants for each year between 1981 and 1991 are published in "Housing and Construction Statistics". Figures for 1981 to 1988 are in the annual version "Housing and Construction Statistics 1980-1990 : Great Britain", table 7.3. Figures for 1989-91 are in the quarterly version "Housing and Construction Statistics, December Quarter 1991, Part 2 : Great Britain". Grants made under the Housing Act 1985 are in table 2.18 and grants made under the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, effective from July 1990 in England and Wales, are in table 2.17.
Sir John Hannam : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much was spent by local authorities in England on mandatory renovation grants, discretionary renovation grants, mandatory disabled facilities grants, discretionary disabled facilities grants, minor works assistance- staying-put grants, minor works
assistance-thermal insulation, minor works assistance patch-and-mend and minor works assistance-elderly relative, for each quarter since July 1990.
Sir George Young : Figures for final payments of mandatory and discretionary renovation grants and disabled facilities grants in England are published in the quarterly publication "Housing and Construction Statistics : Part 2"--tables 2.17 and 2.19 respectively. It also gives information about final payments of minor works assistance as a whole, table 2.21. Copies of this publication are in the Library.
The latest edition gives figures up to the December quarter 1991. Figures for the March quarter 1992 are as follows :
3
Final payments: England: March quarter 1992:
|£ thousands
---------------------------------------------------
Renovation grants
Mandatory |72,808
Discretionary |5,337
Disabled facilities grants
Mandatory |14,262
Discretionary |281
Minor works assistance |4,803
The only information about the different types of minor works assistance available relates to the financial year 1990-91. The figures for final payments are as follows :
Final payments: England: 1990-91
|£ thousands
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Minor works assistance:
Elderly householder to "stay put" |6,328
Thermal insulation |1,610
Elderly person to become or remain resident |315
Temporary improvement of property to be cleared |1
The Department provides a 75 per cent. Exchequer contribution towards local authorities expenditure on grants. The exception to this is for disabled facilities grants to council tenants ; expenditure on these grants is eligible for 100 per cent. subsidy from the housing revenue account.
Sir John Hannam : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what percentage of renovation grants in 1991-92 were paid to (a) owner- occupiers and (b) tenants.
Sir George Young : The only figures currently available about the tenure of persons receiving renovation grants relate to the financial year 1990-91. During that period, 93 per cent. of grants went to owner-occupiers with virtually all of the remaining 7 per cent. going to private sector landlords and housing associations as landlords.
Waste Disposal
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his policy towards waste disposal being (a) recycled and (b) localised ; what action he is taking to give recycled and localised waste disposal advantages over (i) non-recycled and (ii) major centralised waste disposal respectively ; and what relevant statistics he has for each category both (1) at present and (2) for the year 2000.
Mr. Maclean : It is Government policy that the production of solid waste should be minimised. Failing that, waste should be reused, recycled or incinerated with energy recovery. It should only be landfilled as a last resort. The provision of waste disposal facilities, whether small and local or large and centralised, is a matter for waste disposal authorities in consultation with the planning authority. Waste collection authorities are also under a duty to prepare recycling plans which are due to be submitted in draft to my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment by 1 August. Our target is that 25 per cent. of household waste should be recycled by 2000, compared with about 5 per cent. at present. The collection of statistical information on waste recycling and disposal is currently under review.
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what guidance he has issued to ensure that the actual and full costs of waste disposed by (a) landfill and (b) incineration are reflected in (a) the charges levied by waste disposal authorities and (b) the calculation for recycling credits.
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Mr. Maclean : Waste disposal authorities, except for the statutory waste disposal authorities which are a special case, do not levy charges in respect of waste disposal. The statutory joint authorities' power to make levies on their constituent councils is set out in the Waste Regulation and Disposal (Authorities) Order 1985, SI 1985 No. 1884. The method to be used for setting the values of recycling credits is set out in the Environmental Protection (Waste Recycling Payments) Regulations, SI 1992 No. 462. Guidance to authorities on operating the system of recycling credits is provided in circular 4/92.
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list those waste disposal authorities which have set up local authority waste disposal companies in conjunction with the private sector ; and in the case of each authority, which private company has been the successful bidder.
Mr. Maclean : No LAWDCs have yet been established.
Waste Incinerators
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment on which dates the toxic waste incinerator proposed for Howdon-on-Tyne, and the clinical waste incinerator for Felling-on-Tyne, were called in by him ; on what dates the inquiries were held ; and what factors determine the length of time before his decision is announced.
Mr. Mclean : Neither of these proposals was called in by the Secretary of State. Both are the subject of planning appeals which were recovered for determination by the Secretary of State. The Howdon appeal was lodged on 28 December 1989 and was recovered on 18 May 1990. The other appeal, at Follingsby was lodged on 15 February 1991 and was recovered on 14 March 1991. The inquiry into the Howdon appeal was one of three linked inquiries held between 11 September 1990 and 1 March 1991. The site- specific inquiry into the Howdon proposals was held between 8 and 31 January 1991. The inquiry into the Follingsby appeal was held between 9 April and 3 May 1991. The target handling times for appeal cases where the Secretary of State takes the decision are published in planning policy guidance note 1. The aim is to decide 80 per cent. of cases within eight weeks of receiving the inspector's report, although as each case must be considered on its own merits, more complex cases may take longer than eight weeks. The inspectors' report on the linked inquiries which included the Howdon appeal was received on 10 December 1991. It raises many complex issues all of which need to be carefully considered before a decision can be issued. Good progress is being made and the decision will be issued as soon as it is practicable to do so.
The inspectors' report on the Follingsby appeal has not yet been received. It is expected to be received shortly.
Energy Proposals, London
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how each of the nine proposals for power generation and incinerators in the east London corridor are affected by his Department's document, "Planning and Pollution Control" ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Baldry : This document has been issued for public consultation only. Once finalised, it will be taken into account by local planning authorities in the preparation of development plans, and may be a material consideration in individual decisions under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.Dolphins
Mr. Ward : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps have been taken to investigate the cause of the strandings of dolphins on the Cornwall coasts earlier this year.
Mr. Maclean : My Department has had a contract with the Institute of Zoology--IOZ--since August 1990, to co-ordinate the investigation of cetacean strandings in England and Wales. One of the objectives of this contract is to allow for a swift and thorough investigation of stranding incidents. In the first three months of 1992, 105 common dolphins were washed up on the north and south coasts of Cornwall and Devon-- substantially more than those recorded in previous years. The IOZ examined the evidence from 38 individual post-mortems conducted by the institute itself and by the MAFF investigation centre at Polwhele. The IOZ has also conducted or arranged tests for evidence of disease and contaminants.
The institute has submitted a report on the incident to my Department which is being placed in the Library of the House. The post-mortem examinations suggest that fisheries entanglement may have been the principal cause of this incident. The animals appeared to be in a good nutritive state and free of serious disease. Tests for a range of contaminants, including heavy metals and PCBs, have shown nothing unusual. There was no evidence of the seal virus which has been known to affect cetaceans elsewhere. There is, however, some evidence of an increase in the number of common dolphins present in south-western waters at the time of the incident.
Water (Environmental Costs)
Mr. Jon Owen Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will propose legislation by which the environmental costs of water extraction would be (a) reflected in the charges to the consumer or (b) taken out of the profits made by the water companies.
Mr. Maclean : I am considering the possibility of incentive charging for both effluent discharges to water and water abstraction. I hope to issue a consultation paper later in the year.
Waste Tips (Groundwater)
Mr. John Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what progress has been made in monitoring groundwater beneath waste tips ; and if his Department will establish a database on the level of pesticide waste in each waste tip.
Mr. Maclean : A research programme is under way to provide a review of the extent and type of groundwater contamination in England and Wales associated with the landfilling of controlled waste. The work will enable the Department to form conclusions about the significance of contamination in relation to drinking water quality standards, contaminant background levels in groundwater
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and contamination from non-landfill sources. It will result in guidelines for monitoring requirements and complements a broader programme of monitoring groundwater sources being sponsored by the National Rivers Authority.The results of the study will be in the form of a database which is likely to contain waste input data by broad classification, but not details of pesticide or any other particular waste inputs to individual sites.
Another project currently being carried out is to compile a database of the composition of the liquids produced within landfills and to investigate the occurrence of compounds of environmental significance, including certain pesticides, within these liquids.
Radioactive Waste
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he plans to take during the United Kingdom presidency of the European Community to co-ordinate and promote a common information strategy for the public on radioactive waste, as set out in point 6 in the annex to the Council resolution of 15 June on the Community action plan on radioactive waste, published in the Official Journal of the European Communities No. C 158/3-5, 25 June.
Mr. Maclean : It is expected that the EC Commission will take forward the recommendations of research studies which it has undertaken in this field. In doing so it will be advised by the advisory committee on programme management for the Community plan of action in the field of radioactive waste. The United Kingdom is represented on this advisory committee. The United Kingdom can provide examples of good practice, for example, the highly successful Sellafield visitor centre. The United Kingdom is also implementing the European Community directive on the freedom of access to information on the environment--90/313/Euratom.
Leather Processing
Mr. Fry : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give urgent consideration to redefining leather processing from part A of Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution regime to a part B process under the environmental protection legislation.
Mr. Maclean : No. We are satisfied that control of pollution from leather processes is more appropriate to integrated pollution control, regulated by Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution, than to local authority air pollution control.
Halon Gas
Mr. Cousins : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what regulations exist governing the use of halon gas in retail products.
Mr. Maclean : EC regulation 594/91 controls the production and consumption--defined as production plus imports minus exports--of halons rather than their use in particular products, reflecting the approach of the Montreal protocol. With the EC, we are proposing that the protocol should phase out halons by the end of 1995, with an 85 per cent. cut by the end of next year. We will also be pressing for a complete phase-out of halons within the Community by the end of 1994.
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Sustainable Development Corporation
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to encourage the involvement of non-governmental organisations in the Sustainable Development Corporation according to United Nations Conference on Environment and Development accreditation and not to Economic and Social Council accreditation.
Mr. Maclean : The United Kingdom will encourage the General Assembly, at an early stage, to examine ways of enhancing the involvement of non-governmental organisations within the United Nations system in relation to the UNCED follow-up process, and the establishment of the best procedures for such an expanded role.
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make representations to the Secretary-General of the United Nations to ensure the establishment of a formula for deciding the membership of the Sustainable Development Corporation which ensures that membership is not limited to Economic and Social Council members.
Mr. Maclean : The United Kingdom will seek to ensure that the General Assembly, at its 47th session, establishes a basis for membership of the Sustainable Development Commission which pays due regard to equitable geographical distribution and the interests of those who are not Economic and Social Council members.
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to make representations to ensure that the newly established Sustainable Development Corporation has the strongest available and highest qualified secretariat.
Mr. Maclean : The United Kingdom will ask the United Nations Secretary-General to ensure that the Sustainable Development Commission has a highly qualified and competent support structure within the framework of the United Nations secretariat. We do not believe that a new, independent secretariat should be created.
Recycling
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will assess the restrictions placed on local authorities' spending on recycling and reconsider the standard spending assessment formula to enable local authorities to be assured of sufficient resources to produce the recycling plan.
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Mr. Robin Squire : Standard spending assessments make proper provision for the whole range of services for which local authorities are responsible. Provision for waste recycling was taken into account in the 1992-93 local government finance settlement. It is for local authorities to determine their own spending priorities in the light of local circumstances.
Ms. Walley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will list those local authorities which (a) have submitted their recycling plan within the time scale laid down by his Department and (b) have not yet submitted their recycling plan ; (2) of those authorities which have not submitted a recycling plan, what reasons have been given for failure to submit one within the time scale.
Mr. Maclean : Local authorities are not due to submit their draft recycling plans until 1 August 1992.
By 13 July 1992 plans had been received from :
London boroughs
Hammersmith and Fulham
Kensington and Chelsea
Metropolitan boroughs
Calderdale
Kirklees
Leeds
District councils
Adur
Arun
Bassetlaw
Braintree
Broadland
Chelmsford
Chester City
Craven
Crawley
King's Lynn and West Norfolk
Leicester City
Malvern Hills
North Devon
North Kesteven
North Warwickshire
Nottingham City
Restormel
St. Albans
St. Edmunsbury
Shepway
Southend-on-Sea
South Wight
Suffolk Coastal
Waverley
West Lindsey
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