| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
7 Apr 2003 : Column 115W—continued
Aggregates
Mr. Rendel: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) when he will publish the review of the draft national and regional guidelines for aggregates provision in England 2001–16; [107382]
- (2) if he will publish the review of the draft national and regional guidelines for aggregates provision in England 2001–16 on or before 18 April. [107384]
Mr. McNulty: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister hopes to publish the final guidelines within the next couple of months, but the remaining work to be done means that they will not be published before 18 April.
Inspectorates
Mr. Norman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many (a) staff and (b) staff engaged in inspection work have been employed by (i) the Single Housing Inspectorate and (ii) the Planning Inspectorate in each year since 1997. [105871]
Mr. McNulty: Housing inspection between 1997 and March 2003 was carried out by the Audit Commission (for local authorities) and the Housing Corporation (for registered social landlords). Both functions will be carried out by a single housing inspectorate within the Audit Commission as from 1 April 2003. The figures are shown in table 1.
7 Apr 2003 : Column 116W
| Total staff employed by the Audit Commission on inspection | Estimated number of staff in Inspection Directorate engaged in housing inspection work (full-time equivalents) | Total staff employed by the Housing Corporation on inspection | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 4 | 1 | — |
| 1998–99 | 18 | 3 | — |
| 1999–2000 | 73 | 11 | — |
| 2000–01 | 324 | 59 | — |
| 2001–02 | 438 | 66 | 43 |
Notes:
1. The Audit Commission's financial year runs from 1 November to 31 October.
2. The Housing Corporation's financial year runs from 1 April to 31 March: figures in column 4 therefore refer to 2002–03
The Audit Commission is responsible for carrying out inspections of local authority planning functions. The Planning Inspectorate deals with appeals and other casework under planning, housing, highways and allied legislation: the figures in shown in table 2, the Planning Inspectorate are not therefore directly comparable with those in table 1.
| Total staff employed | Number of inspectors | |
|---|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 828 | 410 |
| 1998–99 | 766 | 373 |
| 1999–2000 | 803.8 | 378 |
| 2000–01 | 780.8 | 346.3 |
| 2001–02 | 783.2 | 344.4 |
| 2002–03 (as at 3 March 2003) | 876.9 | 429.2 |
Note:
The Planning Inspectorate's financial year runs from 1 April to 31 March.
Local Authority Finance
Mr. Hammond: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to adjust formula spending share of local authorities to reflect different costs and savings incurred in modernisation of the Fire Service. [106994]
Mr. Raynsford: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is aware that the costs and savings incurred as a result of the modernisation of the Fire Service may have a varying impact on individual Fire Authorities.
7 Apr 2003 : Column 117W
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will work with the relevant stakeholders to establish a clearer understanding of these effects. It will be considered whether and how the results of this work needs to be reflected in due course.
Millennium Dome
Mr. Redwood: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) what contamination there is under the Dome site; [105923]
- (2) what remedial action has been undertaken to clear the land of the Dome site; [105921]
(3) what the cost is of land reclamation at the Dome site; [105930]
(4) what works have to be done to clean the ground at the Dome site to make it suitable for houses; [105924]
(5) how long it will take and how much it will cost to decontaminate the Dome site sufficiently for it to take deep foundation housing. [105929]
Mr. McNulty: Remediation of the Dome site and Greenwich Peninsula, comprising some 121.4 hectares, was carried out in two stages. British Gas, as the original landowner, carried out statutory remediation. The second phase was carried out by English Partnerships (EP) to make the site fit for purpose as per the masterplan for the site.
British Gas and EP employed WS Atkins as remediation consultants, who secured agreement from the Environment Agency and the Environmental Health Department of the London Borough of Greenwich for the adopted remediation solutions. This has involved either the removal of any remaining contaminated material or works to contain and isolate remaining traces of contaminants such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons and petroleum hydrocarbons, which were tar by-products from the site's original use as a gasworks.
The depth to which materials were removed and treated varies across the site. In some areas material was removed to a depth of 14 metres. The containment of any residual contamination after treatment involved the construction of surface and vertical barriers. Such barriers vary according to the end use but in landscaped areas, for example, they are typically about 1.5 metres thick. Works were undertaken toachieve remediation fit for purpose as per the masterplan.
The cost to EP for the purchase and remediation, servicing and landscaping of the Greenwich Peninsula site was £185 million. The requirement for any future remediation will depend partly upon whether there is a change of use from that proposed under the existing masterplan to a use proposed under the masterplan that
7 Apr 2003 : Column 118W
is currently the subject of a planning application to Greenwich Council. In any case, as with any brownfield site, further development will need to be done in such a way as to preserve the integrity of the capping layer, for which there are standard construction processes. Therefore, further remediation may not necessarily be required.
The land under the Dome itself will not be used for housing. A planning application was submitted to the London Borough of Greenwich, by Meridian Delta Ltd. jointly with Anschutz Entertainment Group, Quintain Estates and Development and English Partnerships, on 23 December 2002. The plan proposes a new 26,000 capacity arena inside the Dome and surrounding facilities in the Dome for various leisure, sporting, entertainment, exhibition, retail and community uses. It also outlines development over a 20-year period for: over 10,000 homes on the Peninsula with associated community facilities and public open space; and 3.5m sq. ft of commercial development on the Peninsula. The application covers some 76.9 hectares, and is currently being considered by Greenwich Council under the normal planning procedures.
It should also be noted that the delivery of housing on the Peninsula is already well underway, with the construction of the Millennium Village.
Mineral Land Banks
Mr. Rendel: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to reduce the required mineral land bank for Berkshire for the period between 2001 and 2016. [107383]
Mr. McNulty: This is a matter for the unitary district authorities responsible for minerals planning in Berkshire to consider. In doing so they will need to take into account their revised individual apportionments within the regional guidelines for aggregates provision, which are to be issued shortly. The apportionments for individual authorities will be recommended by the South East Regional Aggregates Working Party, on which minerals planning authorities in the region are represented, in consultation with the Regional Planning Body for the South East. This will follow a process of testing the proposed regional apportionments against local environmental and economic circumstances, to be carried out in the months following their publication.
Tuberculosis (Homeless People)
Tim Loughton: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many homeless people in London who have had health checks last year were found to be suffering from tuberculosis. [106573]
Mr. Hutton: I have been asked to reply.
This information is not held centrally.