TIPPING RULES (Hansard, 21 January 1969)

§ Mr. Gibson-Watt
I beg to move, Amendment No. 3, in page 5, line 24, after 'regulation', insert: 'under this Part of this Act and under the Reservoirs Act 1930'. We have tabled the Amendment to ensure that in his tipping rules the Minister includes rules concerning the 411 liquids mentioned in Clause 2(1), remembering that liquids have sometimes caused tip failures. This occurred at Tymawr in South Wales, as mentioned in the Report of the tribunal, and Williamsthorpe is another case in point. The Central Electricity Generating Board has accepted the principle that the 1930 Reservoirs Act applies to lagoons associated with the disposal of pulverised fuel, known as "fly ash". We should like the Minister to state this Bill's relationship to the Reservoirs (Safety Provisions) Act in regard to mine and quarry lagoons and dams.
This matter has been exercising the minds of a panel of the Institution of Civil Engineers which has produced revisions to the Bill in its report on reservoir safety. This was published in 1966 and up to date no action has been taken on it. The report, which no doubt the Minister has in his possession, asks in paragraph 27, that certain changes should be made. The importance of this is underlined in paragraph 70 of the Aberfan tribunal report which quotes the researches of Sir Andrew Bryan, previously Chief Inspector of Mines, into safety legislation throughout the world. It is reported that only two countries had legislation dealing with this matter. One, South Africa, referred particularly to slime dams. I shall not go into a dissertation on slime dams, but I ask the Minister, in considering this Amendment, to give us the assurances for which we asked and to tell us how this Bill is associated with the Reservoirs (Safety Provisions) Act.

§ The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Power (Mr. Reginald Freeson)
I can give certain general assurances, but the Amendment as it stands would not serve a useful purpose because the Regulations under the 1930 Reservoirs Act do not provide for regulations with which tipping rules could possibly conflict. The Regulations under that Act prescribe the forms which can be used for certain certificates and applications for inclusion in the panel of engineers to inspect reservoirs under the Act. They do not apply to lagoons resulting from mine and quarry wastes because such lagoons are not designed to store water for future use. They are used only for waste matter which settles out 412 and water which is drained away, not stored for future use. The Regulations cannot be conflicted with and therefore this Amendment would not be meaningful.
Part I of the Bill provides ample powers to cover the siting, construction and maintenance of lagoons in the regulations to be made. These will be made after fullest consultation with the Tip Safety Advisory Committee. Disused lagoons, distinct from those actively in use, will be covered by guidance notes prepared by the Committee. Part II, under which the notes will be issued, gives local authorities what powers they need to inspect and initiate remedial action.
For those reasons I hope that it will be accepted that there is no point in having the Amendment written into the Bill, and that in any case the kind of assurances that I have indicated will cover the point that is worrying the hon. Gentleman.
The hon. Gentleman referred to certain recommendations with regard to the panel of civil engineers, which was dealt with in the Tribunal Report. In addition to what I have said specifically on the Amendment, I would say on that that the Tip Safety Advisory Committee has studied and is studying the report in question and will take full account of it when preparing the advice on regulations and the guidance notes for the purposes covered by the Bill.

§ Mr. Gibson-Watt
If I may speak again by leave of the House, I thank the Parliamentary Secretary for the assurances that he has given.
As to the remarks that I made about the recommendations on reservoir safety, I would make clear that the recommendations were produced in 1966. They were no part of the Aberfan Tribunal. It is a very small point, it is true, but the hon. Gentleman is right in saying that this is to a large extent dealt with under Part I of the Bill, and what he said about the Tip Safety Advisory Committee certainly reinforces his general assertion.
Having heard the hon. Gentleman's assurances, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the Amendment.