HC Deb 17 December 1980 vol 996 cc279-80
11. Mr. Neubert

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what study he has made of the report "British Freight Waterways: Today and Tomorrow", and if he will make a statement.

Mr. King

The study, which the Inland Waterways Association published last month, is being examined at the moment. It raises questions which I shall need to discuss with my right hon. Friend the Minister of Transport, and I shall then consider whether a statement would be appropriate.

Mr. Neubert

Will the Minister explain why virtually all Government documents assume that the only waterways in commercial use are owned by the British Waterways Board, why, as a result, two-thirds of Britain's commercial waterways are omitted from official statistics, and why the Government continue to neglect the wasting asset of an under-used, non-pollutant, commercial waterway freight network?

Mr. King

My hon. Friend will be aware that there is a significant Government investment in the South Yorkshire canal, specifically as a flag bearer for what British Waterways hopes will be a development of freight potential. He will be aware that the bulk of our canal system was designed in the eighteenth century and is not of a scale that is likely to prove a commercial proposition for freight. However, I should like to look into the point that my hon. Friend raises in the first part of his question.

Mr. Sever

Does the Minister accept that far too little attention is given to the state of British waterways, both with regard to their maintenance and certainly with regard to the way in which they can be exploited for further freight traffic? Will he urge upon his ministerial colleagues the need for developing freightage on the waterways and the need for the extension of that service in the larger industrial areas, where energy cost savings can be a very reckonable feature?

Mr. King

I know that there are many hon. Members on both sides of the House who would like to see a revival of our waterways. We must face some fairly tough facts. There is very substantial Government support for the waterways, merely to retain the fabric of what is, as I have said, in many parts a late eighteenth—century structure. This is raising major problems for us, but certainly, even within the very difficult economic situation with which we are faced, we are doing our best to maintain the support for the essential repair work that is needed if we are to maintain the fabric of the canal system.

Mr. Durant

Will my right hon. Friend study carefully the question raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Romford (Mr. Neubert), who made a valuable point about statistics? Is he aware that the report is a valuable document and it gives the whole scene, so that the Department can look at the value of the commercial waterways and how they should be exploited?

Mr. King

I am well aware of my hon. Friend's close interest in this subject. We shall be looking at this document very carefully.

Mr. Spearing

Has the Minister noticed that in the Armitage report on lorries there is a recommendation that more traffic should be transferred to the waterways? In relation to transferring or changing the criteria for statistics, is the Minister aware that the Government can, virtually overnight, increase the amount of traffic on the waterways and fulfil that recommendation with no cost apart from changing the statistics? Will he look at this matter immediately with his right hon. Friend the Minister of Transport?

Mr. King

We are giving very close consideration to the Armitage report. I have no statement to make on that today.