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Economic Development
Mr. Denham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to change the procedures used to designate scheduled authorities for the purposes of the Local Government (Promotion of Economic Development) (Amendment) Regulations 1992, to ensure that scheduled authorities are those local authorities which have the highest levels of unemployment.
Mr. Robin Squire : No. Those local authorities designated by the Local Government (Promotion of Economic Development) (Amendment) Regulations 1992 which were not previously designated in the Local Government (Promotion of Economic Development) Regulations 1990, qualified on the basis that, in whole or in part, they fell within a travel-to-work area with an unemployment rate above the--narrow base--national average for England of 9.8 per cent. for the period from April 1991 to March 1992. The list of scheduled authorities will be reviewed again in the light of the unemployment statistics for April 1992 to March 1993.
Mr. Denham : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many English local authorities, which were designated scheduled authorities for the purposes of the Local Government (Promotion of Economic Development) (Amendment) Regulations 1992, have higher levels of unemployment than (a) Southampton and (b) Gosport ; and if he will list them and their current levels of unemployment.
Mr. Robin Squire : Fifty-six local authorities were newly designated as scheduled authorities under the Local Government (Promotion of Economic Development) (Amendment) Regulations 1992, on the basis that each authority, in whole or in part, fell within a travel-to-work area with unemployment above the--narrow base--national average for England of 9.8 per cent. for the period from April 1991 to March 1992. Southampton city council and Gosport borough council did not fall within such a travel-to- work area. The scheduled authorities added by the regulations are :
In the county of Dorset
Bournemouth Borough Council
Christchurch Borough Council
East Dorset District Council
In the county of East Sussex
Brighton Borough Council
Lewes District Council
Hastings Borough Council
Hove Borough Council
Wealden District Council
In the county of Essex
Basildon District Council
Brentwood District Council
Castle Point Borough Council
Chelmsford Borough Council
Epping Forest District Council
Maldon District Council
Rochford District Council
Southend-on-Sea Borough Council
Thurrock Borough Council
In Greater London
The Common Council of The Corporation of London
The council of the--
London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
London Borough of Barnet
London Borough of Bexley
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London Borough of BromleyLondon Borough of Camden
London Borough of Croydon
London Borough of Enfield
London Borough of Harrow
London Borough of Havering
London Borough of Merton
London Borough of Redbridge
London Borough of Sutton
London Borough of Waltham Forest
London Borough of Westminster
In the county of Hampshire
East Hampshire District Council
Fareham Borough Council
Havant Borough Council
New Forest District Council
Portsmouth City Council
Winchester City Council
In the county of Hertfordshire
Broxbourne Borough Council
Hertsmere Borough Council
In the county of Kent
Dartford Borough Council
Gillingham Borough Council
Gravesham Borough Council
Maidstone Borough Council
Rochester upon Medway City Council
Sevenoaks District Council
Swale Borough Council
Tonbridge and Malling District Council
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council
In the county of Surrey
Epsom and Ewell Borough Council
Reigate and Banstead Borough Council
Tandridge District Council
In the county of West Sussex
Adur District Council
Chichester District Council
Horsham District Council
Mid Sussex District Council
Green Belt, Lancashire
Mr. Gordon Prentice : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the planning decisions in Lancashire over the past 15 years where development on designated green belt land has been permitted ; and if he will indicate those approvals granted after appeal to him.
Mr. Baldry : Information on local authority decisions is not available ; reliable information on appeal decisions could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Contaminated Land
Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will hold meetings with the major financial lending institutions on the criteria they will use to determine their lending policies to house builders and house purchasers of homes built on contaminated land.
Plant Standards
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to set a timetable to ensure that all existing power stations and combustion plants operate according to new plant standards by 2000.
Mr. Maclean : Since 1 April 1991 all large combustion plants have been subject to integrated pollution control
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under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, and therefore to regulation by Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution. When considering an application for authorisation HMIP is required to ensure the use of best available techniques not entailing excessive cost to prevent, or minimise and render harmless any releases. The precise timetable for the upgrading of existing plant, and the standards to be achieved, are matters for HMIP.Emissions
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what research has been undertaken by his Department to date upon the use of selective catalytic reduction upon levels of nitrogen oxide emissions ; and what plans he has to support and fund the selective catalytic reductions initiatives in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Maclean : Technologies for reducing nitrogen oxide emissions, including selective catalytic reduction, have been considered in two items of research commissioned by my Department ; a general study of acid emission abatement technologies undertaken by the Fellowship of Engineering, and a report on nitrogen oxide abatement technologies for large combustion plants undertaken by DNV Technica. While I have no plans for funding or other specific support for the development of this technique, Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution is under a duty to keep such techniques under review for the purposes of part I of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to upgrade the United Kingdom plan to cut acid emissions.
Mr. Maclean : The United Kingdom is already committed to substantial reductions in acid emissions of sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen. We continue to keep these plans under review in the light of both the developing scientific evidence of acid damage and the progress of negotiations, in which the United Kingdom is playing a full part, towards new international agreements for the control of acid emissions.
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement upon the impact of the new EC action programme on the environment on Government support for the pollution control authorities in the dealings with plant operations.
Mr. Maclean : Among the many issues it addresses, the EC's fifth environmental action programme emphasises the importance of a scheme of integrated pollution prevention and control to regulate the operations of industrial plant. The European Commission is currently working on a proposal in this area. We introduced a scheme of integrated pollution control in the United Kingdom under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which came into force in April 1991 and is now being implemented by Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution. We therefore welcome the Commission's intentions.
Trees
Mr. Batiste : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to encourage the provision of trees in towns and community forests in England.
Mr. Maclean : The Government provide grant aid for planting, including grants from the Forestry Commission
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through the woodland grant scheme and the new community woodland supplement, and support from Task Force Trees--a special unit of the Countryside Commission which is allocating some £17 million in grant to replace trees in both urban and rural areas lost in the storms of 1987 and 1990.We also provide assistance to voluntary and other bodies which are active in planting trees in towns and the urban fringe and fund an important programme of research and the provision of advice, placing emphasis on the practical care and maintenance of trees.
The Countryside Commission and the Forestry Commission are engaged in a joint initiative to create a number of community forests near major towns and cities. The Government have funded the establishment of project teams to explore means of implementing these forests and are currently considering proposed business plans for the three lead schemes : Thames Chase, Forest of Mercia and the Great North Forest.
Housing, Pendle
Mr. Gordon Prentice : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what are the housing investment programme bids by Pendle district council to his Department and the HIP allocation for each year since 1982.
Mr. Baldry : The information requested is given in the table. The figures for 1990-91 and subsequent years are not directly comparable with those for earlier years because of the revisions to the capital finance system introduced in April 1990.
Housing investment programme (HIP) bids by Pendle district council and
allocations and capital expenditure, 1982-83 to 1992-93
£ thousand
HIP bids HIP Housing capital
allocations<1> expenditure
|Cash |1992-93 prices<2>|Cash |1992-93 prices<2>|Cash |1992-93 prices<2>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1982-83 |6,014 |10,447 |5,163 |8,969 |5,173 |8,986
1983-84 |6,151 |10,212 |4,469 |7,420 |5,657 |9,392
1984-85 |8,115 |12,823 |3,815 |6,028 |6,324 |9,993
1985-86 |7,900 |11,837 |3,157 |4,730 |4,463 |6,687
1986-87 |7,206 |10,460 |2,980 |4,326 |3,777 |5,483
1987-88 |8,162 |11,231 |3,191 |4,391 |4,005 |5,511
1988-89 |11,375 |14,590 |3,196 |4,099 |5,169 |6,630
1989-90 |6,515 |7,841 |2,574 |3,098 |5,687 |6,844
New capital finance system<3>
1990-91 |6,888 |7,677 |3,203 |3,570 |3,962 |4,416
1991-92 |5,610 |5,848 |2,468 |2,573 |<4>3,381 |<4>3,525
1992-93 |6,005 |6,005 |3,420 |3,420 |<5>4,220 |<5>4,220
Notes:
<1>Allocations for the years up to and including 1989-90 are final allocations, i.e. the intial allocation plus any increases to the initial
allocation made in-year. The allocations figures for 1990-91 and subsequent years are the HIP allocations-housing annual capital guidelines
plus specified capital grants-issued prior to the start of the financial year. These figures do not include any supplementary credit approvals
issued during the year.
<2>Cash figures have been converted to 1992-93 price levels by excluding the effect of general inflation as measured by the GDP market prices
deflator.
<3>From 1990-91, under the new capital finance system, the HIP allocation is an assessment of relative need for housing capital expenditure
rather than a directly borrowing approval. Borrowing approval is now conveyed by the single, all service, basic credit approval.
<4>Provisional.
<5>Estimated.
Diesel Engine Trains
Mr. Jon Owen Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps his Department takes to monitor the level of pollution produced by diesel engine trains.
Mr. Maclean : The Department does not monitor directly pollution produced by diesel engine trains. Diesel motors of all kinds contribute to ambient levels of smoke, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide in particular, and these are monitored in many places throughout the United Kingdom. Rail transport is estimated to contribute about 1 per cent. of total United Kingdom emissions of nitrogen oxides, and negligible proportions of total emissions of other major pollutants.
DOE Digest of Environmental Protection and Water Statistics No. 14, 1991 : Tables 1.1-2, 1.7, and 1.9-10).
Squirrel Monkeys
Mr. Jon Owen Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the average cost, nationwide, of a licence to keep squirrel monkeys under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976.
Mr. Maclean : Such information is not held centrally.
Radon Gas
Mr. Simon Hughes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment is he will state the amount of grant awarded by each local authority for renovation to reduce the risk from radon gas, and the total paid ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Baldry : This information is not collected by the Department.
Departmental Expenditure
Mr. Chris Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the reasons for the proposed reduction in planned spending by his Department under the "Environment" heading in 1992- 93, 1993-94 and 1994-95.
Mr. Howard : This heading comprises a variety of spending programmes including new towns, the urban block, Property Holdings, Ordnance Survey and the Office of Water Services as well as environmental initiatives. Forecast outturn for 1992-93 and the revised provision for 1993-94 and 1994 -95 are higher than in previous plans.
The year on year changes between 1992-93 and 1994-95 reflect a number of factors, including a change in the forecast of receipts from the disposal of new towns assets. Provision rises throughout the period on the environment, countryside and wildlife block of expenditure programmes within the overall "Environment" heading.
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