HC Deb 07 February 1973 vol 850 cc450-1
28. Mr. George Cunningham

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will make available the good offices of his Department to investigate all options for the future use of the City Basin of the Regents Canal, as proposed to him by the leader of Islington Council and the hon. Member for Islington, South-West.

The Under-Secretary of State for the Environment (Mr. Eldon Griffiths)

Officials of the Department have discussed this proposal with the town clerk and senior officers of the council. I shall shortly be writing to the leader of the council and the hon. Member.

Mr. Cunningham

Does the Minister understand that a satisfactory solution to this problem cannot be found unless the gas hoard and, perhaps, one or two other undertakers are involved, and they cannot be pulled in by the Islington council? Since I believe that it is now six months since I raised this matter with him first, and two or three months since the leader of the council wrote to him asking him to make his good offices available, will the hon. Gentleman quickly come to a decision, and an affirmative decision at that?

Mr. Griffiths

The hon. Gentleman, who has been very patient and reasonable in his approach on this matter, knows that a great number of different authorities with different desires are involved. There is the local authority concerned with housing, there are the statutory undertakers, and there are the amenity considerations. I can only repeat that my Department has had conversations with the local authority, and I shall shortly be writing to it.