§ 6. Mr. Matthew TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to tighten regulations on the discharging of sewage around the coasts.
§ The Minister for the Environment and Countryside (Mr. David Trippier)On 5 March 1990, the then Secretary of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for Bath (Mr. Patten), announced that in future all significant discharges of sewage to coastal waters would receive at least primary treatment. This policy is being implemented, starting with necessary revisions to those schemes in the bathing waters programme as announced by my right hon. Friend on 14 November 1990. Regulations to give statutory effect to the EC bathing waters directive are to be made shortly.
§ Mr. TaylorWhen does the Minister expect primary screening to be implemented around our coast? Is he aware that South West Water reneged on a pre-privatisation promise to carry out screening at Kieve Mills, which causes considerable pollution along the north coast of Cornwall? Will he join me in condemning that? Have any of the other privatised water companies taken similar action?
§ Mr. TrippierOn the latter point, I can confirm that the requirements set out in the bathing waters directive on whether primary, secondary or tertiary treatment must be given to sewage is the responsibility of the National Rivers Authority. That will be made even clearer when the municipal waste water directive comes on stream.
Secondly, I am not in a position to accuse South West Water of doing anything of the kind. If the Government had not privatised the water industry in the way that we did, which has allowed the investment of £28 billion to improve water—that is money that I can assure the hon. Gentleman I could not possibly have got from the Treasury—we would not have been able to comply with the European directive in the first place. I can assure the hon. Gentleman that we intend to have 100 per cent. compliance with the bathing waters directive by 1997. We will be the first nation in Europe to comply with that European directive at that time. That is good news for this nation, although I do not expect to see it announced in any Liberal party literature.
§ Mr. KilfedderIs the Minister aware that there is a real problem as a result of raw sewage being dumped in Belfast Lough which, as a result of wind and tide, then comes up onto the coastline of my North Down constituency? In view of that real hazard to health, will he ensure that all dumping of sewage stops as soon as possible?
§ Mr. TrippierThe most important point that I can make to the hon. Gentleman is that the compliance to which I referred earlier applies to the United Kingdom as a whole, so all parts of the United Kingdom have to comply with the directive. It is clear from the response of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to the promise of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment that we will achieve that objective. I believe that we might possibly achieve that objective by 1995. I certainly hope so.
§ Mr. Win GriffithsDoes the Minister agree that after 12 years of oil-rich Tory rule, it is a scandal that Lancaster university can report this week that children entering the 930 sea at Blackpool are five time more likely to contract diarrhoea and three times more likely to suffer from vomiting than children who stay on the beach? Why should children bathing at Blackpool have to suffer those health hazards for at least four more years? Does not that report highlight the disgrace of the Minister's visit to Brussels just before Christmas when he tried to get the case against Blackpool dropped or suspended in the European Court of Justice? Will not the report make the Commissioner change his mind?
§ Mr. TrippierI can assure the hon. Gentleman that if the previous Labour Government had not cut the amount of money available to the water authorities, we would have been in a much stronger position to comply with the European bathing directive a darn sight sooner. What I consider to be a scandal is the fact that the report, which I understand is still unfinished, was leaked for purely political purposes by the Labour leader of the county council who seems to take enormous delight in dragging down and selling short Blackpool and any part of the Fylde coast. It is a national scandal and a disgrace that she has approached European Commissioner Ripa di Meana asking him not to desist in bringing a prosecution against the British Government. I have never heard of a more scandalous and unpatriotic act.
§ Mr. Andrew WelshWhy does Britain test for only two types of sewage bacteria when the European directive allows for 21 tests? If British beaches fail to meet even those basic minimal standards, how can Britain claim not to be the dirty man of Europe?
§ Mr. TrippierI can assure the hon. Gentleman that Britain is certainly not the dirty man of Europe as is clear from all the evidence. We are anxious to comply with the European directives in any particular with regard to bathing waters or water quality of any kind.
§ Mr. BrazierWill my hon. Friend join me in praising the work of the National Rivers Authority, which has a major office and laboratory in my constituency? Does my hon. Friend agree that it is only since the Government introduced the National Rivers Authority that we have been able to cut the flow of pollutants to the coastline via our rivers and that that is because water authorities no longer police themselves?
§ Mr. TrippierI am happy to agree with every single word. I am very happy to compliment the National Rivers Authority. It was entirely the idea of the Conservative Government that we should set up such a regulatory body. The previous Labour Government never even dreamt of setting one up. I am proud to say that it is now the toughest regulatory body in Europe.
§ Mr. Matthew TaylorOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. In view of the unsatisfactory nature of the Minister's reply, I give notice that I shall seek to raise the matter on the Adjournment.