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Southend Environment

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will list grants her Department has made to improve the environment in Southend in each of the last three years. [192280]

Alun Michael: Payments have been made to Southend-on-Sea borough council to support the following projects to reduce risk from flooding and coastal erosion:
£

	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04
Two Tree Island Preliminary Study	—	35,813	—
Improvements—Pier to Lynton Road	765,179	1,984,447	—
Beach Management—Pier to Lynton Road	—	—	9,990

In addition, in 2002–03 there was payment of £268,565 to the Essex Partnership—which includes Southend—for a campaign for raising awareness of recycling.

SPS Forms

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the delay in sending out SPS forms by the Rural Payments Agency; and whether these delays will affect the deadline date by which farmers have to submit their returns. [191092]

Alun Michael: The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has sent over 89,000 Information Statements in the past four months, and is on target to issue the remainder, fewer than 500, by the end of October.

The Information Statements contain data that the RPA has determined will be used to calculate the historic element of a producer's Single Payment. Producers have been asked to provide any amendments to the data within 28 days of receipt of their statement. This timescale will also apply to producers who have yet to receive their statements.
 
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Tree Planting

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what financial incentives are available to farmers who wish to plant trees; and if she will make a statement. [192202]

Mr. Bradshaw: The Forestry Commission's Woodland Grant Scheme is the main source of incentives available to farmers who wish to plant trees. This may be combined with Defra's Farm Woodland Premium Scheme which provides annual payments, based on income forgone, for areas of new farm woodlands. The Woodland Grant Scheme provides incentives to plant areas of trees of 0.25 hectares and above; support for smaller areas of tree planting is available under Defra's Countryside Stewardship Scheme.

In England, the Woodland Grant Scheme is currently closed to new applications and will be replaced by the new English Woodland Grant Scheme, which will open for applications in 2005. The new scheme will combine the incentives available under the separate Forestry Commission (WGS) and Defra (FWPS) schemes into one application process for farmers. Defra's Environmental Stewardship Scheme, to be introduced in 2005, will also provide incentives for small-scale tree planting.

Urban Landscapes

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she is having with house builders on the provision of better environmental landscapes for urban developments; and what evidence she has collated that good practice is evolving. [192333]

Alun Michael: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has many meetings with many different organisations whose interests lie with the protection and enhancement of the environment. Such meetings follow on from, and inform, the development of departmental policy.

Defra is working with ODPM on long-term planning policy for urban areas, particularly in respect of the four growth areas identified under the Sustainable Communities Plan. A key element of this work is to ensure that creative approaches to the provision of greenspace are built into development plans from the outset. As an example of what we are aiming to achieve we published "Creating sustainable communities: Greening the Gateway" on 14 January 2004. It sets out a joint vision for the landscape of the Thames Gateway region over the next 25–30 years.

At a very practical level these policies feed into the work of the Defra agencies—the Countryside Agency, English Nature, and the Forestry Commission. Benefits for Gloucestershire residents have been provided through the Cotswolds AONB Design Guide for local authorities and practitioners (guidance on locally appropriate design) funded for Defra by the Countryside Agency.

The booklet "Biodiversity by Design: A Guide for Sustainable Communities' was launched on 17 September 2004 following from the work English
 
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Nature undertook with the Town and Country Planning Association (TPCA). It is the first in a series of good practice guides setting out practical design led solutions, showing the attention which my Department, and the agencies, pay to the detailed needs of planning practitioners. The guide sets out solutions on how to maximise opportunities for biodiversity in development. In addition, it contains international case studies from European cities such as Berlin demonstrating new approaches with possible applications for the UK.

Waste Management

Richard Ottaway: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to the answer of 4 October 2004, Official Report, column 1946W, on waste management, if the Minister will set out a timetable for achieving his proposals. [190671]

Mr. Morley: Following the Gershon review to identify areas where improved efficiency can be delivered, Defra will facilitate efficiency gains on waste services of £30/105/164 million for the financial years 2005–06, 2006–07 and 2007–08.

Significant progress is already being made through the extension of Defra's existing Waste Implementation Programme. This was launched in May 2003 to help local authorities to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their waste services and to meet targets for more sustainable waste management.

Recent achievements include delivery of: direct consultancy support for local authorities to improve operational effectiveness; specialist procurement and project management consultancy to major local authority partnership projects; an online procurement support sign-posting brochure; a waste-specific PFI procurement toolkit; and, an online new technologies data centre. A standard waste contract documentation toolkit will also be available to local authorities online.

Further milestones for the programme include: commencement of a programme of action to identify/tackle barriers to new entrants to the waste market from September 2004; consultation on revised planning policy guidance on waste and on new guidance on municipal waste management strategies, by end-December 2004; implementation of a three year strategy to deliver better waste data from April 2005; and delivery of 10 new technology pilot schemes by end March 2008.

Water Savings Trust

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on plans to launch a water savings trust; and with whom she has discussed the plans. [191111]

Mr. Morley: During the passage of the Water Act 2003 the option of establishing a water savings trust was discussed and I confirmed that I would request the Environment Agency to consider this option as one of a number of possible steps that could be taken to promote and secure water efficiency. The Environment Agency has commissioned consultants to undertake a feasibility study and they are engaged in reviewing existing water efficiency activity and developing possible models for a
 
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water savings trust. As part of this process they have held a consultation workshop to obtain views from a wide range of relevant stakeholders. The Environment Agency will report the output of the feasibility study to Defra by the end of January.

Wildlife Protection

Mr. Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps are being taken to (a) protect and (b) enhance the natural wildlife habitat around the UK rail network. [190630]

Mr. Bradshaw: English Nature work regularly with Network Rail at national, regional and local levels to take the steps necessary to protect and enhance wildlife habitat around the UK rail network. Network Rail's vision for the environment is to ensure that protected heritage features and habitats under its care make a positive contribution to the quality of life in the UK. It has a safety and environment plan for 2004–05 which includes a commitment to address conservation issues and in particular to work with English Nature, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Countryside Council for Wales to agree site management statements for 80 per cent. of the SSSIs on its land. It also includes an objective to implement a rolling programme to update its Biodiversity Action Plan.

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