§ 2.45 p.m.
§ LORD LUCAS OF CHILWORTHMy Lords. I beg to ask the second question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government if they will state the cost of the Fleet—Drakelow 275 Kv super-grid up to the time of its abandonment.]
§ THE MINISTER OF POWER (LORD MILLS)My Lords, I am informed by the Central Electricity Authority that the proposal for this 275 kilovolts connection between Fleet in Hampshire and the Drakelow Generating Station near Burton-on-Trent had not gone beyond the planning stage when the Authority decided to suspend the project for the time being. Although preliminary discussions had taken place with local planning authorities no application had been made to me for my consent to the line and no contracts had been let by the Authority in connection with it. The cost of the project has therefore been confined to the cost of the preliminary work done on it by the Authority's own planning engineers and their administrative and wayleave staff. The amount of money involved is therefore small and no figure can properly be attached to it.
§ LORD LUCAS OF CHILWORTHMy Lords, may I thank the noble Lord for his reply; and may I offer, if not to the noble Lord—he may be too modest to accept them—my congratulations to somebody for nipping in the bud this project before the taxpayers' money was wasted?