Clause
16
Underground
gas
storage
12.45
pm
Amendments
made: No. 114, in clause 16, page 8,
line 30, leave out ‘storage of gas’ and insert
‘gas storage
facilities’.
No.
115, in
clause 16, page 8, line 31, leave
out ‘or (3)’ and insert ‘, (3) or
(3B)’.
No. 116,
in
clause 16, page 8, line 33, leave
out
‘facilities for the
underground storage of
gas’
and
insert ‘underground gas storage
facilities’.
No.
117, in
clause 16, page 8, line 35, leave
out from ‘use’ to end and insert
‘underground gas storage facilities in
England,
and the condition in
subsection (3A) is met in relation to the
facilities.’.
No.
118, in
clause 16, page 8, line 37, leave
out from ‘use’ to end of line 38 and insert
‘underground gas storage facilities in
Wales,
(aa) the facilities are facilities
for the storage of gas underground in natural porous
strata,’.—[Jim
Fitzpatrick.]
No.
119, in
clause 16, page 8, line 39, after
‘transporter’ insert ‘,
and
(c) the condition in subsection (3A)
is met in relation to the
facilities.’.
No.
120, in
clause 16, page 8, line 39, at
end insert—
‘(3A) The
condition is that—
(a)
the working capacity of the facilities is expected to be at least 43
million standard cubic metres,
or
(b) the maximum flow rate of
the facilities is expected to be at least 4.5 million standard cubic
metres per day.
(3B)
Development is within this subsection
if—
(a) it is the
carrying out of operations for the purpose of altering underground gas
storage facilities in England,
and
(b) the effect of the alteration is expected to
be—
(i) to increase by
at least 43 million standard cubic metres the working capacity of the
facilities, or
(ii) to increase
by at least 4.5 million standard cubic metres per day the maximum flow
rate of the facilities.
(3C)
“Underground gas storage facilities” means facilities for
the storage of gas underground in cavities or in porous
strata.
(3D) In this
section—
“gas
transporter” has the same meaning as in Part 1 of the Gas Act
1986 (see section 7(1) of that
Act);
“maximum flow
rate”, in relation to underground gas storage facilities, means
the maximum rate at which gas is able to flow out of the facilities, on
the assumption that—
(a)
the facilities are filled to maximum capacity,
and
(b) the rate is measured
after any processing of gas required on its recovery from
storage;
“working
capacity”, in relation to underground gas storage facilities,
means the capacity of the facilities for storage of gas underground,
ignoring any capacity for storage of cushion
gas.
(3E) In subsection (3D)
“cushion gas” means gas which is kept in underground gas
storage facilities for the purpose of enabling other gas stored there
to be recovered from
storage.’.
No.
121, in clause 16, page 8, line 40, leave out subsection
(4).—[Jim
Fitzpatrick.]
Clause
16, as amended,
ordered to stand part of the
Bill.
Clause
17
Pipe-lines
Amendment
made: No. 122, in clause 17, page 9,
line 2, leave out ‘the pipe-line is or (when
constructed) will’ and insert
‘(when
constructed) the pipe-line is expected to’.—[Jim
Fitzpatrick.]
Jim
Fitzpatrick:
I beg to move amendment No. 123, in clause
17, page 9, line 24, leave out subsection (5) and
insert—
‘(5) For the
purposes of subsection (4), a pipe-line is a nationally significant
pipe-line if—
(a)
development consent is required, and has been granted, for its
construction, or
(b) its
construction has been authorised by a pipe-line construction
authorisation under section 1(1) of the Pipe-lines Act
1962.’.
The
Chairman:
With this it will be convenient to discuss
Government amendments Nos. 148 to
150.
Jim
Fitzpatrick:
The amendments make minor changes to the
pipeline aspects of the Bill and ensure that the infrastructure
planning commission can consider proposals for a diversion to an
existing pipeline if that pipeline is authorised under previous
legislation. I commend them to the
Committee.
Amendment
agreed
to.
Clause
17, as amended,
ordered to stand part of the
Bill.
Clause
18
disagreed to
.
Clause
19
Airports
Amendment
made: No. 125, in clause 19, page 10, line 8, leave out from
‘England’ to end of line 20 and insert ‘or in
English waters, and
(b) is expected to be
capable of providing services which meet the requirements of subsection
(2).
(2) Services meet the
requirements of this subsection if they
are—
(a) air passenger
transport services for at least 10 million passengers per year,
or
(b) air cargo transport
services for at least 10,000 air transport movements of cargo aircraft
per year.
(3) An alteration of
an airport is within section 13(1)(f) only
if—
(a) the airport is
in England or in English waters,
and
(b) the alteration is
expected to have the effect specified in subsection
(4).
(4) The effect
is—
(a) to increase by
at least 10 million per year the number of passengers for whom the
airport is capable of providing air passenger transport services,
or
(b) to increase by at least
10,000 per year the number of air transport movements of cargo aircraft
for which the airport is capable of providing air cargo transport
services.
(5)
“Alteration”, in relation to an airport, includes the
construction, extension or alteration
of—
(a) a runway at the
airport,
(b) a building at the
airport, or
(c) a radar or
radio mast, antenna or other apparatus at the
airport.
(6) In this
section—
“air
cargo transport services” means services for the carriage by air
of cargo;
“air passenger
transport services” means services for the carriage by air of
passengers;
“air
transport movement” means a landing or take-off of an
aircraft;
“cargo”
includes mail;
“cargo
aircraft” means an aircraft which
is—
(c) designed to
transport cargo but not passengers,
and
(d) engaged in the
transport of cargo on commercial
terms;
“English
waters” means waters adjacent to England up to the seaward
limits of the territorial sea.’.—[Jim
Fitzpatrick.]
Clause
19, as amended,
ordered to stand part of the
Bill.
Clause
20
Harbour
facilities
Amendments
made: No. 126, in clause 20, page 10, line 22, leave out
‘or
extension’.
No.
127, in
clause 20, page 10, line 23, leave
out ‘the harbour facilities will (when constructed or
extended)’ and insert ‘(when constructed) the harbour
facilities—
‘(a) will be in
England or Wales or in waters adjacent to England or Wales up to the
seaward limits of the territorial sea,
and
(b) are expected
to’.
No. 128, in
clause 20, page 10, line 25, at
end insert—
‘(1A) The
alteration of harbour facilities is within section 13(1)(g) only
if—
(a) the harbour
facilities are in England or Wales or in waters adjacent to England or
Wales up to the seaward limits of the territorial sea,
and
(b) the effect of the
alteration is expected to be to increase by at least the relevant
quantity per year the quantity of material the embarkation or
disembarkation of which the facilities are capable of
handling.’.
No.
129, in
clause 20, page 10, line 30, at
end insert—
‘(d) in the case
of facilities for more than one of the types of ships mentioned in
paragraphs (a) to (c), an equivalent quantity of
material.
(2A) For the purposes
of subsection (2)(d), facilities are capable of handling an equivalent
quantity of material if the sum of the relevant fractions is one or
more.
(2B) The relevant
fractions are—
(a) to
the extent that the facilities are for container ships—
where
x is the number of TEU that the facilities are capable of
handling;
(b) to the extent
that the facilities are for ro-ro
ships—
where
y is the number of units that the facilities are capable of
handling;
(c) to the extent
that the facilities are for cargo ships of any other
description—
where
z is the number of tonnes of material that the facilities are capable
of handling.’.—[Jim
Fitzpatrick.]
Clause
20, as amended,
ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Clause
21
Railways
Tom
Brake:
I beg to move amendment No. 162, in clause 21, page
11, line 3, at end add
‘but excludes
tramways, and guided transport as defined under subsections 81(2)(b)
and 81(2)(c) of the Railways Act
1993’.
It is a
pleasure to be under your chairmanship, Mr. Illsley, and I
hope that you are able to remain in your seat for the rest of the
deliberations. Clearly, there are some challenges
there.
It is a great
pleasure to speak in favour of the amendment. It touches on a number of
points that have been raised throughout the Committee’s
proceedings, particularly the question of overloading the commission,
which the Minister said he was keen to avoid. He also said that he was
keen not to remove from local authorities control over issues that are
significant in their areas.
The amendment, which relates to
tramways and guided transport, is favoured by the LGA, which has made
it clear that the commission should look at a
small number of proposals each year, rather than the sort of figure that
the Government have suggested. It has highlighted its concerns about
the commission taking on responsibility for tramways and guided
transport. The LGA does not deem those to be nationally significant
infrastructure projects, and I agree. It should be down to local
authorities to consider those. I am fortunate to have the
Croydon tram close to my constituency, and it is clear that the
sort of deliberations that had to happen over the route, such as the
impact on local people of much of the tram route running through local
streets, clearly required the local authority to deal with them. Such
deliberations should not be tackled by the commission.
Equally, there is a strong
demand for, and many vocal advocates of, the tram to be extended to
Sutton, my area. I mention in passing Abigail Lock, if only because she
is the Liberal Democrat candidate for Sutton and Croydon for the
Greater London authority, who is leading the campaign to bring the tram
to Sutton. Should that happen, there would be challenges from residents
who object to having the tram coming down their streets, and the local
authority and the local councillors will have the best insight into
what would be acceptable and what would be the preferable route. It
should be within their hands to manage that application. There will be
a huge concern if the responsibility for considering that ends up with
a commission that, with the best will in the world, will not be able to
acquire the local knowledge itself and will find it difficult to bring
in others who have that knowledge, because it rests with local
councillors and
residents.
I also
think that local authorities will not drag their feet in the case of
trams. In recent years, the Government’s position on trams has
changed slightly, as hon. Members will know. They were going to provide
additional capacity and solve many of the congestion problems in our
major cities, but the Government have gone a little cold on them. Many
local authorities, however, have been bidding for, and are keen to
have, tram schemes in their areas. Therefore, they would be unlikely to
drag that process out unnecessarily, and that is similar to what the
Minister wants to do, as he wants those decisions to be taken quickly.
As a result of the important role that local authorities can play in
reducing congestion through tram schemes, they will want to facilitate
that process.
Mrs.
Lait:
I share the hon. Gentleman’s proximity to the
Croydon tram and one of the projected extensions is in my constituency.
He is talking about local government making the decisions, but I
suggest that those will now sadly be made by the Mayor. I hope he
agrees that we should change
that.
Tom
Brake:
I thank the hon. Lady for her helpful intervention.
She may well be right that the Mayor would have a major say, if not a
total say, in the matter. Setting aside the current incumbent, in
general terms the preference would still be for the Mayor, who has more
democratic credibility—I remind her that I am talking in general
terms, as I see that she is choking on her fizzy water.
In general terms, the Mayor has
more democratic accountability than the commission will ever have.
Therefore, it will be appropriate for him to take on that role in
London. Indeed, I know that the hon. Lady’s and my own preferred
candidate for Mayor have made it clear that they would seek to engage,
at a very low level, with local authorities to ensure that there was a
decent working relationship and that their views were taken fully into
account.
I do not wish
to prolong matters further, but simply to say that there is a strong
case for the remit of trams and guided transport not to be taken up by
the commission. We are not talking about nationally significant
transport projects. We are talking about transport projects that are
significant at a local or possibly regional level, but certainly not at
a national level. I will listen with interest to the Minister’s
explanation as to why he thinks that trams and guided transport should
be included within the Bill’s
scope.
Jim
Fitzpatrick:
The hon. Gentleman raises concerns with
regard to the scope of clause 21. Specifically, he wishes to exclude
tramways and guided transport from the types of project that the IPC
will consider. We are sympathetic to his points. Those types of
development are often limited to a specific locality. That is why the
Department for Transport is exploring the potential to devolve them to
local authorities to determine. Guided transport, including trams, is
currently considered by the Secretary of State using the Transport and
Works Act 1992. We will be consulting on and devolving those powers to
local authorities as part of the sub-national review consultation that
I mentioned in our discussions on
highways.
With regard
to clause 21, however, the Government are currently considering the
scope of the types of railway development that should be included in
the Bill. In doing so, I am happy to take on board the hon.
Gentleman’s concerns, and will come back to him and the
Committee on Report, possibly to include a suitable Government
amendment to address categories such as light rail, which would be
separate. I hope that, with that assurance on both
those areas being examined either on Report and/or through the
sub-national review that we have mentioned, he will feel able to
withdraw his amendment.
Tom
Brake:
I thank the Minister for his response. He has
provided some helpful clarification. On the basis that either on Report
or as a result of the sub-national review the matter will be addressed
and there will be clarity for local authorities, and possibly the
Mayor, on where responsibility for those sort of projects will lie, I
beg to ask leave to withdraw the
amendment.
Amendment,
by leave, withdrawn.
Clause
21
ordered to stand part of the
Bill.
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