§ 60. Sir W. Wakefieldasked the Minister of Health whether, in view of the fact that a number of local authorities now have powers to introduce domestic heating schemes, that a number of other local authorities are now seeking powers to introduce such schemes by means of 551 private legislation, and that this method of obtaining such powers is costly and involves delay, he will now take steps to prepare enabling legislation under which all local authorities in the country will be given general powers to introduce district heating schemes subject to suitable safeguards for the various interests concerned.
§ Mr. BevanDistrict heating is still an experiment and its immediate application is limited by the resources, particularly steel, that can be spared from other urgent work. The drafting of general legislation raises some difficult problems, among them the safeguards referred to by the hon. Member, and these are being studied.
§ Sir W. WakefieldWill the Minister do his utmost to urge the more rapid development of district heating, because in that way economies can be effected in fuel and great advantages to the community can accrue?
§ Mr. BevanEven if we were satisfied that district heating had passed entirely out of the experimental stage, the chief limitation at the moment is the absence of enough steel.
§ Mr. Bossomis the Minister aware that district heating has been successfully carried out for over 60 years in New York, and is there any reason why we should not take advantage of the knowledge which exists in the world?
§ Mr. BevanWe should be delighted to take advantage of all that is known about district heating, if we had the steel.
§ Mr. KeelingIs the Minister aware that this matter has long passed out of the experimental stage and has, because of successful experiments elsewhere, been applied on a big scale in Westminster?
§ Mr. BevanThe production of steel long ago exceeded the experiment stage, and we have not enough steel.