§ 2.58 p.m.
§ LORD GARNSWORTHYMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the proposal to use "fill material" from borrow pits in Berkshire in connection with construction work on the M.4 Motorway between Theale and Holyport, thereby causing spoliation of some 700 acres of countryside, will assist in removing dereliction; and whether the use of material from disused colliery spoil heaps or other suitable industrial waste would not be preferable as a means of improving environmental amenity.]
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRE-TARY, MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT (LORD KENNET)My Lords, the planning consents given by the Berkshire County Council in this connection require the subsequent restoration of the land to agricultural use. Available evidence does not suggest that the use of waste material would have been economic here. But in general it is accepted that where suitable waste material is available at a suitable price its use for such purposes is to be strongly encouraged.
§ LORD GARNSWORTHYMy Lords, while thanking my noble friend for that reply, may I ask him whether he is able to comment on the accuracy, or other-wise, of a statement reported in the Reading Evening Post of January 7, by someone who is purported to be a representative of the contractors, that material would be imported for fill purposes in connection with this contract, probably from South Wales?
§ LORD KENNETNo, My Lords, I am not able to comment on the accuracy of that statement. The contract is let, and what the contractor does within that contract is not something that I have immediately at my finger tips.
§ LORD GARNSWORTHYMy Lords, may I ask my noble friend whether he would not agree that money paid by way 628 of Exchequer grant for re-contouring or re-landscaping in derelict areas might better be spent in supporting the use of industrial waster in road construction and civil engineering works? And could it not have the added advantage of avoiding the creation of further dereliction, even if only temporary, near the site of operations, and at the same time improve environmental amenities in the district from which waste is removed?
§ LORD KENNETMy Lords, all those three points about the possible use of mineral waste in motorway construction are perfectly true in general, but whether they are applicable in the particular case of this stretch of the M.4 is another matter, and I rather fear that they are not. In future cases the Government hope that they may be.
§ LORD GARNSWORTHYMy Lords, while appreciating that reply from my noble friend, may I ask him whether he would look at the possibility of ensuring that when fill material is required for road construction or for other civil engineering works in connection with contracts subject to approval by any Government Department, such contracts shall specify that suitable industrial waste be used for that purpose, recognising the beneficial influence this would have upon environmental amenities?
§ LORD KENNETMy Lords, this possibility is already being fully investigated by my right honourable friend's Department and the Ministry of Transport.
§ LORD TAYLOR OF MANSFIELDMy Lords, as this is agricultural land which on the basis of my noble friend's Answer will have to be reinstated, may I ask him whether it would not be a better proposition to use material from the spoilheaps in various parts of the country?
§ LORD KENNETMy Lords, as I have endeavoured to explain, it might or it might not. It depends in the first place on how far away the spoilheaps are. The first point to be considered is that of transport costs.
VISCOUNT ST. DAVIDSMy Lords, will my noble friend take into consideration a matter which I am sure will be of interest to him, which is that borrow pits, if properly sited along that area in 629 the valley of the River Kennet, must surely at some time become part of a national water park in that area, and form lakes of considerable beauty?
§ LORD KENNETMy Lords, I think that in this case the contractors are trying to scrape it off the gentle slopes of hills and then iron the slope out and turn it back into agricultural use. In other places what my noble friend says is quite true.
§ LORD GARNSWORTHYMy Lords, is my noble friend of the opinion that this part of the country needs improvement? Is it not already an area of considerable natural beauty?
§ LORD KENNETMy Lords, of course it needs no improvement. The motorway needs fill and we are talking about the best place from which to get that fill. Nobody wants to dig it out of the Kennet Valley: it is just that it is a great deal cheaper to do so, to my great regret.
§ LORD RAGLANMy Lords, can my noble friend confirm that in this case the contractors are being left to find fill where they can? Would the Government consider a policy of including in the area of compulsory purchase an area which the consulting engineers and the planning authorities deem suitable for a borrow pit, rather than, as I believe is usually the case, leaving the contractors to scratch around to find fill in bargains with local farmers and landowners?
§ LORD KENNETMy Lords, as I have already said, we are going into a general policy for obtaining the fill for motorways and other roads in a manner least damaging to the amenity of the country-side.