§ I5. Mr. Tilneyasked the Secretary of State for Wales when he hopes to make a decision to proceed with the multi-purpose barrage across the Dee Estuary.
§ Mr. Peter Thomas:I refer my hon. Friend to the reply which I gave him on 18th October.—[Vol. 823, c. 343.]
§ Mr. Tilney:Does my right hon. and learned Friend realise that weeks, months, years and even decades have now gone by while this imaginative scheme has been under discussion? Is it not time that somebody made up his mind about the scheme, which will be of great benefit to the North-West, especially in view of the unemployment in the area and our general lack of amenity compared with the South and South-East?
§ Mr. Thomas:I agree that the matter has been discussed for a very long time, though only three weeks have passed since 18th October, when I last replied to my hon. Friend about it. It is not wholly a Welsh matter. There are many and varied interests to be harmonised, but my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment and I hope that it will be possible early in the new year to inform the House of our preliminary conclusions.