Lord Chelwoodasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, in order to protect the balance of nature, they will give an assurance that the Private Bill procedure will not be used to short circuit the need for environmental assessments of projects with possible nature conservation implications in either designated or undesignated areas.
The Minister of State, Department of the Environment (The Earl of Caithness)Whether or not the Private Bill procedures should themselves include environmental assessment requirements in appropriate cases is a matter for each House of Parliament to decide. In paragraph 80 of their report (H.L. Paper 97) the Joint Committee on Private Bill Procedure recommend that each House should incorporate environmental assessment into Private Bill procedure. The Government are at present considering this and the other recommendations made in the report.