§ Mr. Michael Shaw (by Private Notice) asked the Minister of Power whether he will make a statement about the electricity power failure in the Whitby district, Yorkshire.
§ The Minister of Power (Mr. Roy Mason)Blizzards have led to local power failures in a number of places in the North of England in the past few days. In most cases supplies have been restored within a few hours, but Whitby has now been without power since Monday evening. The North Eastern Electricity Board tells me that it has restored limited supplies to half the consumers affected; restoration of supplies to the remainder is being made as quickly as possible, but there is still considerable repair work to be done in atrocious weather before full supplies can be restored.
§ Mr. ShawI thank the right hon. Gentleman for his statement. Will he add 491 my tribute to the staff of the electricity authority who have been working in almost impossible conditions to get the supply going again. None the less, is he not aware that it is a serious position that about 20,000 people living in that area should have been cut off, in many cases from their only source of power, and that there is a need in such exposed areas to have a much more adequate source of emergency supply?
§ Mr. MasonI am obliged to the hon. Gentleman for paying tribute to the Electricity Board's linesmen, who have been working in arctic and atrocious conditions on the moors. Nine thousand people were affected. Five thousand people have already had limited supplies of electricity restored to them, and the Board hopes to be able to restore supplies to the remainder as quickly as possible.