§ Lord Mountevansasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have reached a decision about the future of marine radio-navigation in United Kingdom waters.
Earl HoweThe United Kingdom has been negotiating over a period of time with eight other countries on the possible adoption of Loran C as part of a joint regional system of marine radio-navigation in north-west Europe and the North Atlantic. My right honourable friend the then Secretary of State for Transport told the House in April 1990 the conditions on which the United Kingdom would in principle have been prepared to enter into an international agreement if it could be achieved by mid-1991. Some but not all of those conditions have been met. But a new factor has been a revised proposal recently put to my right honourable friend the Secretary of State by the Racal Electronics Company to modernise and operate the existing Decca chains in the UK at a lower cost than in their 1988 proposal.
My right honourable friend has examined the proposal carefully and Racal have made further improvements to it. He has now decided to accept the Racal proposal and to withdraw from the Loran C discussions. Two main factors have led to this conclusion. First, it is now very doubtful whether an international agreement could be concluded and brought into effect within a timescale which would both ensure a three-year transitional period before the closure of the UK Decca system (under the existing contract by early 1997) and avoid a price increase in the Loran C investment. Second, the revised Racal proposal means that the case has changed significantly in favour of retaining the Decca system, both in the overall economic appraisal and in the effect on light dues. After taking account also of the costs of a change for users, my right honourable friend has concluded that, despite some factors which point
28WA
NSA applications: 1 June 1990 to 31 May 1991 Area Estimated total agricultural land (Ha) In basic scheme In premium scheme Farmers Ha as percentage of land Ha as percentage of land In NSA Applied for basic as percentage of number in NSA Ogbourne St. George 984 712 72.4 107 10.8 10 8 80.0 Kilham 756 286 37.9 0 0.0 15 10 66.6 Egford 427 220 51.5 42 9.8 13 6 46.2 Old Chalford 621 578 93.1 165 26.6 12 10 83.3 Wellings 523 323 61.8 9 1.7 24 14 58.3 Tom Hill 570 469 82.3 19 3.3 25 17 68.0 Wildmoor 723 685 94.7 14 1.9 38 33 86.8 Boughton 1,652 1,627 98.5 16 1.0 21 20 95.2 Sleaford 2,876 2,876 100.0 944 32.8 23 23 100.0 Branston Booths 1,592 1,586 99.6 209 13.1 22 21 95.5 Total all NSAs 10,724 9,362 87.3 1,525 14.2 203 162 79.8 towards Loran C, it would no longer be reasonable to impose this change of system on the UK user community. In reaching this conclusion, he has had particular regard to the representations made to him by the fishing and electronics engineering industries against a change to Loran C, and to the fact that the Decca system continues to serve the mariners' needs satisfactorily within the overall requirements of marine safety.
Our partners in the international negotiations on the Loran C proposal are being informed of this decision. My right honourable friend now intends to invite the General Lighthouse Authorities to give effect to his decision by entering into formal negotiations with the Racal company on a new contract for operating the Decca system.