Contaminated Land (Hansard, 21 March 1990)

§ 1. Mr. Stern
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has any plans to compel local authorities to compile a register of contaminated land.

§ The Minister for the Environment and Countryside (Mr. David Trippier)
I expect shortly to receive a departmental working party report on the feasibility of establishing registers of contaminated land. My assessment of that report will include consideration of whether such registers should be voluntary or compulsory.

§ Mr. Stern
Will my hon. Friend join me in welcoming the recent report on contaminated land from the Select Committee on the Environment? It has strong application in my constituency, because it calls for a compulsory register of potentially contaminated land, such as at Avonmouth in my constituency. Does my hon. Friend agree that a register will create an opportunity to evaluate such land, and in so doing remove a barrier to its development, which potentially is one of the golden opportunities in Bristol?

§ Mr. Trippier
I welcome the Select Committee's report, to which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State hopes to respond shortly. We are anxious to be as positive as possible in our response. In my evidence to the Select Committee, I said that it is essential that all contaminated land should be easily identified. A local register held at district council level would be very helpful.

§ Dr. Kim Howells
The Minister will be aware that there is a register of contaminated land in Wales, but the problem is that local authorities do not have the money to do anything with the information that they have collected. Much money will be needed just for methane drainage schemes and for the removal of contaminated top soil. Will the Government offer local authorities grants to enable them to do that work?

§ Mr. Trippier
One of the most successful grant mechanisms in Wales, as in England, is the derelict land grant. For every £1 of taxpayers' money that we have 1104 spent, about seven times as much has been attracted from the private sector. There is an increase in the public expenditure survey line of the Department of the Environment, but I should have to find out what has happened with the Welsh Office. I commend that scheme to the hon. Gentleman.

§ Mr. Butler
My hon. Friend may be aware that Arpley Meadows, a landfill site in my constituency, takes low-level radioactive waste. Does he believe that such sites should be compulsorily registered?

§ Mr. Trippier
Such sites certainly should be registered, and that will be part of our response to the Environment Select Committee's report. I can give my hon. Friend the comfort that we have raised the standards to deal with such waste in the Environmental Protection Bill.

§ Ms. Walley
Does the Minister agree that it would have been far better if the full reports of the departmental working party had been given during the Committee stage of the Environmental Protection Bill? Does he further agree that that would have enabled us firmly to enshrine in legislation a measure similar to the register in Wales? On Report, once the Minister has consulted local authority associations, does he intend to provide a clear duty for local authorities to compile a register? Will he give them the resources, take account of the problems associated with blight and ensure that the money to render contaminated sites harmless is incorporated in the Bill on Report?

§ Mr. Trippier
The principal reason why we could riot bring those measures before the Committee considering the Environmental Protection Bill was covered by the hon. Lady in her question. It would be less than courteous if we did not consult local authority associations, which believe—I think that the hon. Lady agrees—that registers should be made compulsory. It would be foolish, and certainly discourteous, if I were to make an announcement from the Dispatch Box without properly responding to the Select Committee's report. I certainly should not rule out the possibility of legislation.