§ 4. Mr. Peter Luff (Mid-Worcestershire)If she will visit Throckmorton to discuss with local residents the management and consequences of the foot and mouth disease burial site there. [63005]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr. Elliot Morley)That is not possible at the moment. My officers are working closely with the local community to develop site restoration and management plans; I anticipate an early, satisfactory conclusion to their efforts.
§ Mr. LuffThe hon. Gentleman is a compassionate, humane and diligent Minister. I therefore urge him to reflect again on the implications for local residents of the Department's actions at Throckmorton. There is growing anxiety that the cells in which 130,000 animal carcases have been buried were not properly constructed. Mysterious illnesses, such as throat infections, are striking people who live near the burial site. Their homes have become unsaleable through a combination of those circumstances and the Home Office's decision to go ahead with an asylum accommodation centre in the area.
The Department has established a precedent by buying two houses from local residents. The Government are renting them out on the open market, and effectively they thus cost them nothing. Will the Minister consider extending that precedent to other local residents who are in pressing personal need of making a move and selling their houses, which are currently unsaleable on the market?
§ Mr. MorleyThe hon. Gentleman makes a strong case on behalf of his constituents, and we recognise that it was unpleasant for anybody who lived near any sites where animals were being disposed of at the height of the national foot and mouth emergency. However, the site is now closed and being grassed over. It is being properly run and monitored, and we have no evidence of pollution there. At the hon. Gentleman's request, our head of the foot and mouth claims unit has visited every family to listen to their anxieties.
As the hon. Gentleman knows, we have no legal obligation to purchase houses, and we examine the cases on their merits. We shall consider his representation carefully.
§ Mr. Eric Martlew (Carlisle)As my hon. Friend knows, the village of Great Orton in my constituency contained the largest burial site in England. I want to ensure that there are no more such burial sites anywhere—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. I am sorry to interrupt the hon. Gentleman, but the question is closed and relates to the constituency of the hon. Member for Mid-Worcestershire (Mr. Luff). However, there is a connection with the constituency of the hon. Member for West Worcestershire (Sir Michael Spicer)
§ Sir Michael Spicer (West Worcestershire)For the reasons that my hon. Friend the Member for Mid-Worcestershire (Mr. Luff) mentioned, does not the Minister have a duty to ensure that the existence of the burial site at Throckmorton is fully taken into account by the forthcoming public inquiry into the asylum centre?
§ Mr. MorleyAll the relevant issues will be taken into account in the public inquiry, and I am sure that if there is any relevance in relation to the use of the site, that will also be considered. We recognise that there is a duty on the Department in relation to the proper management of all the sites, including Great Orton, which my hon. Friend the Member for Carlisle (Mr. Martlew) mentioned, and I believe that they are being monitored and run in a proper and responsible manner. We also have a duty to minimise the cost to the public purse, and we have to look at those issues as well.
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. Do Opposition Front Benchers wish to come in? The same rules apply. No, they do not.