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8.14 pm
The Minister for Science, Energy and Industry (Mr. John Battle): I congratulate the hon. Member for Vale of York (Miss McIntosh) on securing this debate. I pay her a special compliment, because this is an unusual Adjournment debate. Such debates are usually held at the end of the day and conducted exclusively between a Member raising a constituency concern and a Minister, with other Members occasionally being allowed to ask a question. The hon. Lady has displayed extraordinary generosity in letting other hon. Members take part in the debate. The fact that they wanted to take part shows that there is real concern about the issue. I almost feel that the matter was worthy of a full Wednesday morning debate.
It is also unusual for a Member to make a maiden speech in an Adjournment debate. Although she may not wish me to speak in such terms, I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Stockton, South (Ms Taylor), because she spoke with passion and warmth of her constituency. As it was an unusual debate in which to make such a speech, I know that she did not spend not days and weeks preparing, but responded to the terms of the debate. The natural, articulate authenticity with which she spoke augurs well. She is a remarkable speaker and captured our attention. I pay tribute to her for having had the courage to make her first speech in such a debate. Her constituents have an articulate champion in the House. I and, I am sure, other hon. Members, look forward to hearing her often.
I compliment the other hon. Members who spoke. I think that the hon. Member for Ryedale (Mr. Greenway) raised the matter in 1985.
Mr. Greenway:
Nineteen ninety-five.
Mr. Battle:
Yes. It was in 1991 and 1992 that the Leader of the Opposition raised it. I compliment my hon. Friend the Member for Erith and Thamesmead (Mr. Austin) for bringing his angle to the debate.
The matter is one of the items that I inherited. To be provocative, I was left a rather large in-tray by the outgoing Government. This item stuck out between the bars at the bottom of the tray. I am not shy about intending to get through the in-tray to put it behind us so that we can get on to the agendas that we want to address in the medium and long term.
The North Yorkshire lines are a long-running saga. The National Grid Company put in applications for a new 400 kV line development from Lackenby, Cleveland via Picton to Shipton in 1991. All the local planning authorities affected objected, as did more than 7,000 individuals. A public inquiry was held into the development in 1992 and a further public inquiry was held into proposed diversions in 1995.
The 1992 inquiry was lasted six months, from May to November, and reported in October 1993. Following receipt of the report of the 1992 public inquiry, a letter was issued in May 1994 by the Department indicating the overall route to which the then Secretary of State, the right hon. Member for Henley (Mr. Heseltine), was minded to grant consent. He was minded to grant consent for much of the route as overhead lines. Copies of the inspector's report from the 1992 inquiry were placed in the Library at the time.
A subsequent public inquiry was held between March and April 1995. It considered proposed line diversions, and reviewed general issues relating to the development. The report was received in December 1995. Since then, the Department has been considering all the evidence, including the material received since the inquiry closed.
It may be a little churlish of me to say it, but I jibbed a little at the hon. Member for Vale of York's remark about my incompetence--I have been in the job for just 12 weeks. As my hon. Friend the Member for Erith and Thamesmead said, the proposed development remained in the previous Government's in-tray for 104 weeks. It is now in my urgent action file, because I want the matter to be sorted out.
As hon. Members will be aware, however, my involvement in the statutory progress precludes me from commenting on the merits and demerits of the application. I am tempted to comment, because I enjoy debate and I enjoyed listening to the range of views expressed tonight, but I hope that hon. Members will understand my role in the matter. I can become involved only when the President of the Board of Trade has considered all the details relating to the application and taken a decision. I must confine my remarks to general ones. I hope that hon. Members will accept my reply in that spirit. I have noted what has been said, which will, of course, be recorded in Hansard, and officials at the Department of Trade and Industry will also take note of those contributions.
In opposition, we promised that, in government, we would look at all the evidence in the light of the two public inquiries and consider local and national needs. That is exactly what we are doing, so we are already acting on the suggestion of hon. Member for Vale of York.
A fair amount of material has built up on the case and must be absorbed. The development has rightly been subjected to the detailed scrutiny of the planning process. Given the controversy that has arisen, it has also been rightly subjected to the attention of the House in the past and again tonight. I got a hint from the hon. Member for Ryedale that it may well be referred to again if the decision on the development drags on. I accept that, but, for our part, we need to consider the conclusions and recommendations in the report on the detailed inquiry in 1995. It is not yet in the public domain, but it reviewed general issues and the specific applications for line diversions.
The line diversions are only part of the overall scheme, and it is therefore appropriate for us to look again at the report on the first inquiry in 1992, as well as the then Secretary of State's provisional conclusion on that inquiry in his letter of 12 May 1994. Various parties have submitted additional material to the Department since the last inquiry closed in 1995, which we also need to consider. We shall also obviously want to reflect on the views expressed by hon. Members tonight. That takes time, and if the Government were so unwise as to take an instant decision either at the Dispatch Box tonight or after we had so recently come into office, there would be complaints about our precipitate response to an Adjournment debate. All I can promise is that we shall reach a view on the case as soon as we properly can, in the light of all the material available.
That means that account will be taken of environmental impact assessments and the cost of putting the lines under the ground, an alternative to which hon. Members have rightly referred. As far as I can recall, the inspectors considered in the first inquiry that the overhead lines in the proximity of the Teesside power station served a number of needs relating to the power station, the future possible growth of generation in the north-east and increasing exports from Scotland. Although the Department of Trade and Industry was aware of the concerns raised by objectors, the consent to the power station was granted without the environmental impact of the overhead line being taken into consideration.
I understand that the previous Government decided that it would have been wrong to treat the overhead line as an integral part of the power station project and, therefore, to have delayed consent to that power station from 1990 until now. There was a division of decision relating to the power station and the line. Having said that, I should add that the overhead line proposals have been subject to full environmental assessments as required by the environmental assessment regulations. The hon. Member for Vale of York asked about that, and I hope that that information gives her a crumb of comfort. I will take that fact into account when reaching a decision on the development.
I am well aware of calls for all overhead lines to be buried underground. I would not claim that overhead cables are a visual amenity in any landscape, but we must balance their existence with people's desire to have electricity supplied to their homes to light them and to operate their televisions, washing machines and all the other accoutrements that are run by electricity. Although I cannot comment on the development in question, I feel that we need to be realistic when making a decision, because those overhead lines may be needed somewhere.
We need to take into account the environmental impact of overhead lines and consider the views of local communities about them. We also need to encourage companies to bury lines underground if they are placed in sensitive locations. We must recognise, however, the limits of present technology. To put a line underground is more expensive than to erect it overground, particularly at high voltage. The indications are that developing technology is unlikely to provide any immediate help in offsetting that cost difference. Those costs could feed through to commercial, industrial and domestic consumers.
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