§ Mr. CummingsTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the effects of waste disposal in all of its forms upon marine life off the coast of Durham.
§ Mr. GummerMy Department assesses the effects on marine life of disposals of waste which it licenses. The only586W significant effect of such disposals off the Durham coast relates to beach tipping of solid colliery waste where there is an identifiable alteration to the nature of the seabed and consequential change in the associated benthos. The area where this occurs is restricted to the foreshore and the offshore area immediately adjacent to the beach. This tipping predates statutory controls over dumping at sea by many years, but care is taken to ensure that the area affected is not extended.
Control of discharges of waste by pipeline is a matter for the Northumbrian water authority under the provisions of the Control of Pollution Act 1974.