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Local Government Planning

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on his Department's policy towards the practice of some local authorities of seeking planning gain. [5607]

Mr. Raynsford: Current policy on planning gain is set out in DoE Circular 1/97. If or when my right hon. Friend proposes a new policy we shall issue a consultation paper for public comment.

Climate Change Convention, Kyoto

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions which Ministers will represent the United Kingdom at the Climate Change Convention in Kyoto in December; and what submissions the United Kingdom is making for the Conference Agenda. [4499]

Angela Eagle: My right hon. Friend, the Deputy Prime Minister, intends to go to the Kyoto Conference, but the full UK Ministerial representation will be decided nearer the time. The Conference will focus primarily on negotiation of an agreement on post-2000 commitments to mitigate climate change, in the form of a protocol to the Convention or other legal instrument. A copy of a draft protocol submitted by the European Union has been

30 Jun 1997 : Column: 50

placed in the Library. We expect the UK and the EU to play a leading role in those negotiations.

Cadmium Disposal

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has to deal with the disposal of cadmium after the 1998 ban on the disposal of sludge at sea. [4501]

Angela Eagle: Those responsible for disposing of sewage sludge containing cadmium will have to comply with the existing requirements applying to incineration, spreading on land or other lawful means of disposal.

Algal Blooms

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what initiatives he is taking to deal with the problems associated with eutrophication, with particular reference to the spread of algal blooms. [4502]

Angela Eagle: Localised adverse effects from eutrophication in inland waters are being addressed by requiring the installation of phosphorus removal at 41 sewage treatment works discharging into 29 designated eutrophic Sensitive Areas in England and Wales, as part of the implementation of the EC Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive.

The Environment Agency is currently monitoring some 150 additional potentially sensitive inland waters for the first review in 1997 of Sensitive Area designations under the Directive. As a result of this review, additional water bodies may be designated resulting in new requirements for phosphorus removal at sewage treatment works.

This year we shall also review the position regarding eutrophication problems in coastal waters as part of the implementation of this Directive and the Nitrate Directive. The Environment Agency is currently monitoring 40 potentially eutrophic sites in coastal waters for this purpose.

Mahogany

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, pursuant to the Under-Secretary of State's oral statement of 11 June, Official Report, column 1099, if he will make a statement on efforts to reach agreement to prevent the wanton destruction of mahogany. [4563]

Angela Eagle: At the recent CITES conference in Harare, the UK and other EU Member States voted in support of a proposal by the USA and Bolivia to list Swietenia macrophylla (Big Leaf Mahogany) on Appendix II of the Convention. The countries present voted in favour of the proposal by 67 to 45, but as at the 1994 conference, this was not sufficient to reach the two thirds majority required to add a new species to CITES. Instead, the conference agreed to set up a working group to protect mahogany from unsustainable logging.

Earlier this week, at the UN General Assembly Special Session, the Prime Minister argued for an early start to negotiations on a Forest Convention as a means of progressing effective international action towards achieving sustainable forestry management.

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Housing Benefit (War Pensioners)

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has to amend the formulae for determining local authority standard spending assessments to reflect the costs of granting disregards to war pensioners eligible for housing benefit; and if he will make a statement. [5588]

Mr. Raynsford: We have no plans to do so.

Compulsory Competitive Tendering

Professor Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will review the decision not to extend the moratorium on CCT for recently formed English unitary authorities. [5880]

Mr. Raynsford: An urgent review of the current CCT framework is already underway in consultation with the Local Government Association. This is considering how the existing CCT legislation and guidance might be brought more into line with the principles of Best Value which we made available to this House on 2 June. Amongst the issues being considered are the timetables for recently formed English unitary authorities. We expect to consult on proposals in mid July with a view to laying new regulations and issuing new guidance in the autumn.

Housing (London)

Mr. Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list for each London borough for each year since 1993 the average rent levels of (a) local authority tenants, (b) housing association tenants, (c) housing co-operatives, (d) private sector in receipt of housing benefit, (e) other private sector and (f) housing companies in which the local authority is involved. [4412]

Mr. Raynsford [holding answer 23 June 1997]: The available information on average rents in London boroughs for local authority tenants, housing association tenants (including tenants of housing co-operatives) and private sector tenants in receipt of housing benefit is set out below.

Information on overall average private sector rents and rents for tenants who are not on housing benefit is available only from sample surveys which are not large enough to produce reliable figures for individual local authorities. Data from the 1995-96 Survey of English Housing and Family Resources Survey show that, in overall terms, the average rent in London for households renting in the private sector who are not in receipt of housing benefit was little different from the average rent for households receiving housing benefit. Like all estimates for surveys, the average rent figures are subject to sampling variability.

No data are available on average rents for housing companies, as none has yet been registered with the Housing Corporation.

Local authority rents (£ per week)

	1993-94	1994-95	1995-96	1996-97
Barking and Dagenham	30.65	34.75	37.42	39.71
Barnet	48.65	50.09	51.44	52.11
Bexley	43.11	45.39	49.32	53.02
Brent	50.18	50.18	57.55	69.81
Bromley	40.47	40.47	41.28	42.72
Camden	48.35	51.32	57.56	58.71
City of London	45.59	51.56	54.14	55.34
Croydon	50.93	51.86	61.03	62.10
Ealing	62.84	59.19	59.15	59.17
Enfield	46.73	49.63	51.63	51.98
Greenwich	41.68	44.58	48.56	50.50
Hackney	43.91	46.42	52.15	54.79
Hammersmith and Fulham	46.45	48.19	52.38	53.77
Haringey	52.48	53.98	56.87	57.54
Harrow	56.81	62.97	64.12	64.68
Havering	36.91	36.91	41.84	44.59
Hillingdon	59.48	59.48	61.98	63.24
Hounslow	37.57	39.97	48.59	49.81
Islington	47.05	49.95	54.99	56.16
Kensington and Chelsea	57.10	60.28	63.23	68.72
Kingston upon Thames	60.27	60.27	60.48	61.15
Lambeth	40.70	42.11	48.67	50.04
Lewisham	41.34	42.58	44.46	46.73
Merton	49.20	49.94	51.89	52.56
Newham	36.98	39.88	43.05	43.72
Redbridge	61.30	63.75	65.41	65.89
Richmond upon Thames	48.24	48.24	51.38	52.92
Southwark	44.36	44.36	48.47	50.07
Sutton	41.98	43.02	47.21	50.97
Tower Hamlets	35.52	37.71	42.75	45.01
Waltham Forest	39.87	42.40	43.38	46.37
Wandsworth	55.64	55.64	58.97	59.68
Westminster	59.60	61.43	62.69	64.62
London	45.72	47.05	51.08	52.97

Source:

Housing Subsidy Claim Forms.

Note:

The average rent figures are not directly comparable between local authorities as they take no account of differences in the composition of stock, eg size and type of dwellings, their age and condition.

30 Jun 1997 : Column: 52

Housing association and Housing Cooperative rents at 31 March (£ per week)

	1993	1994	1995	1996
Barking and Dagenham	42.15	53.47	59.78	63.81
Barnet	39.62	42.34	49.33	55.07
Bexley	38.55	44.60	45.14	48.61
Brent	40.92	45.36	46.56	49.94
Bromley	39.31	47.50	50.45	53.63
Camden	45.35	46.38	48.20	51.55
City of London	41.18	n/a	41.15	45.58
Croydon	47.68	53.50	56.84	60.48
Ealing	39.45	43.86	47.12	52.49
Enfield	41.40	47.93	52.27	55.84
Greenwich	38.23	44.08	49.78	55.57
Hackney	36.46	40.87	42.18	47.08
Hammersmith and Fulham	37.14	38.76	42.41	46.12
Haringey	n/a	39.08	46.04	48.11
Harrow	38.77	43.73	50.32	50.30
Havering	38.71	42.67	47.05	49.04
Hillingdon	37.60	44.57	47.42	51.55
Hounslow	39.35	43.00	48.34	53.24
Islington	40.53	42.39	43.79	49.12
Kensington and Chelsea	36.24	37.49	40.91	44.11
Kingston upon Thames	35.55	46.23	47.95	51.88
Lambeth	35.26	37.39	42.25	45.47
Lewisham	34.27	38.71	41.90	49.00
Merton	41.94	47.80	49.13	54.15
Newham	38.49	43.45	48.52	51.58
Redbridge	34.62	45.56	51.05	55.50
Richmond upon Thames	44.56	47.56	50.66	58.92
Southwark	37.82	39.92	43.86	48.37
Sutton	36.42	39.65	43.68	49.71
Tower Hamlets	40.02	40.13	45.73	47.93
Waltham Forest	36.87	43.28	46.31	49.90
Wandsworth	45.51	44.69	48.46	52.43
Westminster	42.95	42.18	44.43	48.85
London	39.90	42.74	46.25	50.28

Source:

Housing Corporation HAR 10/1 returns collected from housing associations and Housing Cooperatives with more than 250 dwellings or, if developing new stock, 100 dwellings.

Note:

The average rent figures are not directly comparable between local authorities as they take no account of differences in the composition of stock, e.g., size and type of dwellings, their age and condition.

n/a = not available.

30 Jun 1997 : Column: 53

Private sector rents--housing benefit referrals to Rent Officers (£ per week)

	1993-94	1994-95	1995-96
Barking and Dagenham	80.77	85.23	91.39
Barnet	91.69	100.63	114.51
Bexley	79.92	85.62	82.40
Brent	69.40	70.75	75.64
Bromley	78.13	86.35	89.32
Camden	118.02	116.81	120.00
City of London	n/a	n/a	103.66
Croydon	76.75	85.29	90.14
Ealing	78.52	81.63	89.94
Enfield	81.62	88.85	93.24
Greenwich	71.54	77.33	83.12
Hackney	81.62	84.00	89.58
Hammersmith and Fulham	99.98	109.08	118.06
Haringey	82.77	90.19	95.57
Harrow	92.60	94.90	99.35
Havering	77.15	80.04	87.05
Hillingdon	94.56	94.71	98.28
Hounslow	77.63	79.85	90.97
Islington	99.04	97.44	102.60
Kensington and Chelsea	121.65	127.85	125.96
Kingston upon Thames	81.19	92.98	93.06
Lambeth	80.75	81.46	87.86
Lewisham	68.92	73.42	79.24
Merton	78.21	86.73	92.06
Newham	78.92	88.27	90.50
Redbridge	88.58	96.13	97.25
Richmond upon Thames	98.58	99.33	106.85
Southwark	79.40	78.60	81.45
Sutton	81.21	85.83	88.49
Tower Hamlets	86.29	97.71	103.89
Waltham Forest	75.94	82.67	95.22
Wandsworth	84.67	93.94	102.10
Westminster	123.08	121.65	119.47
London	87.67	91.00	95.76

Source:

Rent Officer Statistics.

Notes:

The averages are for appropriate rents from 2 January 1996 and determined rents prior to that date. The average rent figures are not directly comparable between local authorities as they take no account of differences in the composition of stock, e.g. size and type of dwellings, their age and condition.

n/a = not available.

30 Jun 1997 : Column: 54

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