§ 24. Mr. Nicholas Edwardsasked the Secretary of State for Wales what steps he is taking to ensure that modern sewage treatment schemes are given priority in the allocation of resources in Wales.
§ Mr. Gibson-WattThe authorities concerned are given every encouragement by my Department to improve their sewerage systems and sewage treatment plant. 19 Some £50 million will be spent on such schemes over the next five years compared with £33 million in the last five years.
§ Mr. EdwardsI thank my hon. Friend for the welcome news that additional funds are being made available. Is he aware that many of us feel that an even higher priority should be given to this matter and that it is totally unacceptable in this day and age that raw sewage should be pumped into the sea? Can he also assure me that his Department will consider with all urgency the two schemes currently before it—namely, those for Fishguard and Haverford west?
Mr. Gibson-WartThe Working Party on Sewage Disposal accepted that crude sewage could be discharged to sea only after preliminary treatment and through properly sited outfalls. As for the two schemes my hon. Friend mentions, which are at present awaiting action by the Welsh Office, this is mainly on engineering investigation and there will be no unnecessary delay.