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ENVIRONMENT
EU Funding, Merseyside
Mr. Alton:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much European regional development fund funding has been allocated to Merseyside since it acquired objective 1 status; what percentage has so far been spent; and if he will make a statement. [15545]
28 Feb 1996 : Column: 608
Sir Paul Beresford:
The Merseyside objective 1 programme has an allocation of £380 million, at current exchange rates, to be committed over the period 1994 to 1999; £51 million--14 per cent. of total ERDF funding--has so far been offered to 147 approved projects. Many of the approved projects are large-scale capital schemes that have expenditure profiles spread over the life of the programme. The projects have so far received £14.5 million in grant payments, broadly in line with their expected rate of spend. This represents 28 per cent. of funding committed. A further £158 million--42 per cent. of total ERDF funding--of ERDF grant towards 142 projects with similar spend profiles is under active consideration by the secretariat. New applications for funding will be invited over the first half of this year on a rolling basis.
Mr. Callaghan:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he is taking to encourage recycling of household waste in the Greater Manchester area. [17056]
Mr. Clappison:
The Government's overall policy aim for achieving more sustainable waste management is to increase the proportion of waste managed by the options towards the top of the waste hierarchy, including waste minimisation and recycling. Specific measures to encourage recycling of household waste are set out in the White Paper "Making Waste Work: A strategy for sustainable waste management in England and Wales" which was published in December.
Provision of local recycling facilities is a matter for local authorities and the private and voluntary sectors. As an aid to this process, we have recently invited bids from local authorities for a further £10 million of supplementary credit approval resources for capital investment during 1996-97 in recycling projects. More generally, our initiative on producer responsibility for packaging waste will play a key role in developing local infrastructure and encouraging higher rates of recycling, together with other factors, such as the rising costs of waste disposal, including the proposed landfill tax, and improved markets for secondary raw materials.
Mr. Hanson:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what discussions he has undertaken with Ofwat on the establishment of published leakage reduction targets for water companies. [17044]
Mr. Clappison:
Ofwat, the National Rivers Authority and my Department are continuing discussions with the water industry about plans to reduce leakage as part of the review of water resource arrangements announced by my right hon. Friend on 1 September.
Mr. Vaz:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the current waiting time for planning appeals for each local authority. [17065]
28 Feb 1996 : Column: 609
Sir Paul Beresford:
The information requested for each local authority is not available. The current average waiting time for all planning appeals in England is: (i) written representations--16 weeks; (ii) hearings--35 weeks; (iii) inquiries--40 weeks.
Mr. Vaz:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many times in each year since 1979 he has called in out-of-town retail developments. [17068]
Sir Paul Beresford:
There is no information available for out-of-town retail development, or for retailing generally, back to 1979, but for the past six years the number of retail applications called in were:
Mr. Callaghan:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to remove capping from local authorities in the Greater Manchester area. [17090]
Sir Paul Beresford:
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment restated his provisional capping intentions on 31 January. The criteria and capping limit are necessarily provisional and he will announce his decisions on capping once authorities have set their budgets.
Mr. Cox:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the total number of (a) council and (b) private housing starts in England in 1995. [16719]
Mr. Clappison:
Provisional estimates for 1995 show that around 137,000 new dwellings were started in England during 1995: of these, private enterprise builders started 110,900, housing associations about 25,600 and local authorities some 600.
While these figures cover newly built accommodation, housing associations and local authorities have also provided additional social lettings by the rehabilitation of existing properties and through various home incentive schemes.
Mr. Gordon Prentice:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution's variation notice concerning the burning of cemfuel by Castle Cement at Clitheroe cancels previous authorisations and variations. [16721]
28 Feb 1996 : Column: 610
Mr. Clappison:
The variation notice issued by Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution to Castle Cement at Clitheroe on 23 January 1996 replaced all the conditions in the original authorisation and previous variations.
Mr. Prentice:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution authorisation allowing the burning of cemfuel by Castle Cement at Clitheroe is due for automatic review. [16722]
Mr. Clappison:
Authorisations issued by Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution under part I of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 are reviewed not less frequently than once in every four years. The authorization issued to Castle Cement at Clitheroe was reviewed prior to the issue of a variation notice on 23 January 1996. The next review is thus due by January 2000.
Mr. Prentice:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment for what reasons the variation in the authorisation by Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution allowing the burning of cemfuel by Castle Cement has not been classified as a substantial variation. [16723]
Mr. Clappison:
The authorisation issued to Castle Cement in 1993 allowed the burning of cemfuel. The recent variation to this authorisation was issued to set additional controls on the use of cemfuel and limits on the releases to air. Although this did not constitute a substantial change, public and statutory consultations were carried out as required for a substantial change.
Mr. Gordon Prentice:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when the inclusion of pesticides in cemfuel was authorised. [16724]
Mr. Clappison:
Pesticides are not permitted to be included in cemfuel. The varied authorisation includes a requirement to carry on the process in the manner described in the application and the application contains a specific exclusion for pesticides.
Mr. Prentice:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what constituent parts of cemfuel are now allowed which were prohibited under the authorisation which applied prior to 23 January. [16725]
Mr. Clappison:
There are no constituent parts of cemfuel now allowed which were prohibited prior to 23 January.
Mr. Prentice:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what limits on particulates and other residues deriving from the burnings of cemfuel apply to Castle Cement at Clitheroe; what limits apply at other similar sites; and what factors underlie disparities between these figures. [16759]
Mr. Clappison:
Limits set by an authorisation are always site specific, being governed by the fundamental legislative requirement for an operator to use BATNEEC--best available techniques not entailing excessive cost. Differences between sites are therefore to be expected.
28 Feb 1996 : Column: 611
Castle Cement, Clitheroe--particulate limit = 90mg/m 3 .
This represents a tightening of the previous limit of 100mg/m 3 and is considered to be achievable based on experience to date. The company is also required to submit proposals for reducing the level of particulates released to air to that expected of a new plant.
Castle Cement, Ketton--particulate limits of 90 mg/m 3 (kiln 7) and 50mg/m 3 (kiln 8).
With effect from July 1996, kiln 7 will be required to achieve a limit of 50mg/m 3 . Kiln 8 is a very modern kiln which experience has shown to be able to meet the new plant standard. Kiln 7 is under going a major upgrade to increase its capacity. It is therefor being required to meet the new plant standard as required by chief inspector's guidance note IPR3/1. These limits are completely independent of the use of cemfuel and would have been required whatever the fuel.
Rugby Cement, Barrington--particulate limit = 120mg/m 3
This limit will be reviewed following upgrading of the electrostatic precipitators and a limit of 45mg/m 3 is effective from 1 April 1998.
These figures include "twin-track" applications--multiple applications for different proposals for the same site, and applications for overlapping sites. Most of these were for out-of-centre locations.
1990: One
1991: 21 of which 10 were covered by one inquiry and eight others were covered by three inquiries
1992: 9
1993: 10
1994: 34 of which nine were covered by two inquiries
1995: 44 of which 21 are covered by three inquiries.
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