| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
British Gas Sites (Decontamination)
Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has to ensure that public sites owned by British Gas are properly decontaminated before development is allowed on those sites. [3406]
Angela Eagle: It is the responsibility of local planning authorities, when determining planning applications for land which may be contaminated, to consider whether the proposal takes proper account of any contamination. In certain circumstances, it may be necessary for detailed site investigation or specific remedial measures to be made conditions of the planning permission.
Development Corporations
Mr. Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the development corporations currently in existence and the dates on which they will cease to exist. [4011]
Angela Eagle: The urban development corporations currently in existence in England are as follows:
Birmingham Heartlands
Black Country
London Docklands
Merseyside
Plymouth
Sheffield
Teesside
Trafford Park
Tyne and Wear.
There are also development corporations in Cardiff Bay and in Laganside. Responsibility for them rests with my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Wales and Northern Ireland respectively.
16 Jun 1997 : Column: 39
Mr. Sanders:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what measures he intends to take to protect allotments from development.[3780]
Mr. Raynsford:
Statutory provisions already exist which afford protection to certain types of allotment. The Allotments Act 1925 provides that where land has been purchased or appropriated for use as allotments, it cannot be disposed of or used for any other purpose without the consent of the Secretary of State. Any land disposed of would still be subject to the usual planning requirements.
The Government believes that these controls provide appropriate protection to allotment sites and has no plans to amend them.
Mr. Llew Smith:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what steps he intends to take to identify storage or disposal sites in the United Kingdom for nuclear waste, or other radioactive materials which have (a) been abandoned and (b) had their function changed since nuclear activities took place on site. [3941]
Angela Eagle:
The Government is considering how best to apply the provisions of the 1995 Environment Act to radioactively contaminated land. These include the identification of radioactively contaminated sites.
Mr. Dawson:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what action he proposes to take over British Nuclear Fuels plans to transport nuclear waste for recycling at Sellafield by air.[3402]
Ms Glenda Jackson:
BNFL have no plans to transport by air nuclear materials to Sellafield for reprocessing.
However, Mixed Oxide Fuel (MOX) has been safely transported from Sellafield by air since 1973 in packages meeting International Atomic Energy Agency standards.
My right hon. Friend the Minister for Transport has agreed to talk to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) about routeing, to see what might be done to ensure that overflights of urban areas are avoided as far as possible.
Mr. Andrew George:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has for the revaluation of mobile homes and caravans to ensure they are placed in a council tax band related to their real market value. [3908]
Mr. Raynsford:
For council tax purposes all chargeable dwellings, including mobile homes and caravans, are placed in a valuation band according to their open market value on 1 April 1991. The question of whether any changes should be made to the existing structure of the valuation bands is one that I shall wish to discuss with the Local Government Association and others, before reaching a view.
16 Jun 1997 : Column: 40
Mr. Fearn:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has to help the voluntary sector to alleviate the current problems of homelessness. [3799]
Mr. Raynsford:
The Government places great value on the work of the voluntary sector in the prevention and relief of homelessness. This year the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions is providing £7.9 million in grants to fund 195 projects, run by voluntary sector organisations, that help single people in housing need. The voluntary sector has also played a major role in the Rough Sleepers Initiative. My hon. Friend the Minister for Housing has recently announced £17.2 million in funding to voluntary sector organisations and housing associations, to be spent over the next two years, to extend provisions for people who are sleeping rough to twelve areas outside central London.
Links with the voluntary sector have been strengthened by the secondment of Ian Brady, deputy Chief Executive of Centrepoint, to the Department. Mr. Brady will be promoting guidance and encouraging the development of local strategies to ensure that there is no necessity for people to sleep rough. He will also chair a Rough Sleepers Forum of homelessness charities to help co-ordinate national efforts to tackle rough sleeping.
Mr. Pickthall:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on the Bus Employees' Superannuation Trust Pension Fund. [3946]
Ms Glenda Jackson:
I refer my hon. Friend to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Mrs. Dunwoody) on 20 May, Official Report, column 53.
Mr. Chidgey:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and Regions if the cause of the derailment of a freight train at Bexley on 4 February has been established. [3222]
Ms Glenda Jackson:
The Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) independent investigation into the freight train derailment at Bexley is continuing. The investigation is complex and it would be premature to speculate as to the cause. HSE intends to make public its findings once it has completed its enquiries.
Mr. Chidgey:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what is the policy of the Health and Safety Executive on the use of MK 1 rolling stock on British railways until 2007. [3223]
Ms Glenda Jackson:
The Health and Safety Commission and Executive are currently working towards setting a firm timetable for the withdrawal or modification of Mark 1 rolling stock well before 2007. The Executive
16 Jun 1997 : Column: 41
will shortly write to train operating companies and other interested parties, seeking their views on ways of securing that aim.
Mr. Chidgey:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Mr. Dunwoody) of 22 May, Official Report, column 159, what powers exist to oblige Railtrack to accept an amendment to their licence to ensure delivery of investment in infrastructure. [3242]
Ms Glenda Jackson:
If Railtrack do not accept a proposed amendment to their network licence by agreement, the Rail Regulator has the power under Section 13 of the Railways Act 1993 to refer the proposed amendment to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission for investigation, determination and report. If the MMC decide that the proposed amendment is in the public interest, the Regulator can, in line with the procedures set out in Section 15 of the Act, impose the licence amendment.
Mr. Whitehead:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make an assessment of the proposals of South West Trains to introduce rolling stock which restricts the availability of space for bicycles; what assessment he has made of the compliance of such rolling stock with the undertakings provided upon receipt of the franchise by Stagecoach plc; and if he will make a statement. [3286]
Ms Glenda Jackson:
The South West Trains Franchise Agreement requires the franchise operator to make facilities available for the carriage of bicycles on trains so far as this is reasonably practicable and subject to the availability of appropriate space on the rolling stock. The specifications of the new South West Trains' rolling stock are a matter for South West Trains, having regard to this provision.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |