European Year of the Environment (Hansard, 18 March 1987)

§ Baroness Nicol
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, the Government intend to provide more than £ ¾ million in direct support of the UK European Year of the Environment Committee and individual projects. We are also contributing projects of our own to the committee's programme and are using all opportunities to promote the year and its goals. Other departments are contributing further resources, projects and assistance in promoting the year. This is evidence of the Government's genuine commitment to the year.

§ Baroness Nicol
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply. I should have preferred a little more detail, but I am glad that some efforts are being made. Does he agree that it would be very fitting if the Government were to mark the European Year of the Environment by upholding their obligations under the Vienna Convention to protect the ozone layer?

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, the protection of the ozone layer and the proposed directive on chloro-fluorocarbons is one of the items which will be under discussion in the Environmental Council tomorrow and Friday in Brussels. I have no doubt that strides will be made in the correct direction.

§ Baroness Nicol
My Lords, that does not really answer my question. Have the Government taken a view on this? Are we to understand that they are going to honour their obligations, or not?

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, what we are talking about in this and indeed any other proposed directive is a treaty which will be entered into by the Community as a whole, and discussions have to he held both at Official level and ultimately at ministerial level before such a thing can be done. What I have said is that I expect progress to be made on this issue.

§ Lord Hatch of Lusby
My Lords, would it not be appropriate to mark this year if the Government took seriously the issue of acid rain and the gross unpopularity of this country in regard to the emissions which are affecting life on the Continent, and which I believe were drawn to the attention of the Prime Minister during her visit to Norway? Can the noble Lord tell us what are the intentions and preparations of the Government in relation to acid rain and its consequences during the Year of the Environment?

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, planning for a year such as this takes some considerable time, and towards the end of the planning stages the Government announced that retrofits would be made to three power stations so as to remove the sulphur emissions from them. This will cost about £600 million and will take place between 1989 and 1997, so the Government are taking this issue extremely seriously.

§ Baroness David
My Lords, is the Minister aware that the European Commission is instituting proceedings against the Government under Article 169 of the Treaty of Rome, because we have not met the standards of the drinking water directive? Would it not be a very suitable gesture in the European Year of the Environment for them to agree to meet the drinking water directive?

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, I have no doubt that discussions are going on within the Commission to draw many countries' attention to numerous different directives that have been passed up to now. A point of the year is to establish in people's minds the relationship between environmental protection and economic development, and this is a consideration which the Government will have firmly in mind not only thoughout the year but permanently.

§ Lord Nugent of Guildford
My Lords, is my noble friend aware that the announcement of his right honourable friend the Chancellor yesterday of a 5p per gallon reduction on lead-free petrol will be one of the most valuable contributions in this field, because exhaust emissions make a far greater contribution to acid rain than any other factor?

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, I am extremely grateful to my noble friend Lord Nugent. He is absolutely right. This will give the petrochemical industry exactly the fillip that it needs to make our atmosphere cleaner for all of us.

§ Baroness White
My Lords, does the Minister agree that one of the objectives of the Year of the Environ-ment is to encourage people to take greater pleasure and have more enjoyment in the countryside and in its flora and fauna? Is he aware that we in Wales, as befits the Principality, are opening the Year of the Environ-ment on Saturday evening with a grand concert in St. David's Hall in Cardiff, which will include Vivaldi's "The Seasons" and Handel's "The Cuckoo and the Nightingale"?

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, I must confess that that is part of the European Year of the Environment programme which had escaped my notice and I am very grateful that the noble Baroness has drawn my attention to it. May I put in a little plug for the year and say that His Royal Highness Prince Charles is currently opening the UK Year of the Environment in a speech on Teesside?

§ Lord Molloy
My Lords, would it be possible for the Government to consider increasing their programme for preventing some of our rivers being despoiled and polluted? Furthermore, various beauty spots on the coast of Great Britain are still under threat. There are many things which could mark the Year of the Environment and bring a great deal of happiness to the British people.

§ Lord Skelmersdale
Yes, my Lords. That is exactly why the Government announced in the autumn the UK 2000 scheme, which involves job creation for exactly this sort of purpose through the community programme.

§ Lord Craigton
My Lords, is my noble friend aware, in referring to the UK 2000 scheme, that it is one of the most successful operations that has ever been conducted in conservation? It has succeeded in getting voluntary bodies together for the first time. They work together with local authorities and private firms. Not only that, but there is available labour through the Manpower Services Commission. All this combination of thought and local effort enables it to carry out much larger schemes than could be carried out by individual organisations.

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords, I am very grateful to my noble friend. That is a generous tribute from a man who is not only chairman of your Lordships' All-Party Environment Committee but also for many years was chairman of CoEnCo. which is itself an enabling body of this sort.

§ Lord Taylor of Gryfe
My Lords, may I ask the Minister whether he has had any expert advice from the Forestry Commission on the impact on forestry of emissions from power stations and, if so, what it contained?

§ Lord Skelmersdale
My Lords. I rather think that that is a question which is a little detailed for the moment. The answer to the broad question is, yes, the Forestry Commission is continously in discussion on this matter with my department. As to the details, I think perhaps I ought to write to the noble Lord.