HC Deb 26 November 1990 vol 181 cc318-20W
Mr. Ron Davies

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what criteria are used in determining the eligibility of a proposed coastal protection, fluvial flood and sea defence scheme for grant aid.

Mr. Curry

For coast protection and flood, including sea, defence schemes to qualify for grant aid, they must be technically sound, economically worthwhile (i.e. provide sufficient benefit to justify the cost), and environmentally sympathetic. To satisfy the last of these criteria, in general, proposals must be acceptable to the Nature Conservancy Council, and have satisfied the requirements of either S.I. 1217 The Land Drainage Improvement Works (Assessment of Environmental Effects) Regulations 1988 or S.I. 1199 The Town and Country Planning (Assessment of Environmental Effects) Regulations 1988, whichever is applicable.

Mr. Ron Davies

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what are the reasons for the grant available to individual regions or local districts of the National Rivers Authority for fluvial flood and sea defence schemes being lowest in primarily urban regions and highest in primarily agricultural regions.

Mr. Curry

The amount of grant available to an individual region or local district of the National Rivers Authority depends on the size of its programme of priority work, and its financial resources. These factors are taken into account in setting the grant earning ceiling and the basic grant rate.

In the past three years, the number of schemes approved for grant is about 270, and their total estimated cost is around £110 million. Of these schemes, less than 40 will afford protection to agricultural land alone, and their estimated cost is just over £7 million. The majority, in both number and value, are schemes providing urban benefits alone.

Mr. Ron Davies

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether, since his reply to the hon. Member for Caerphilly of 18 December 1987,Official Report, column 878, he has become aware of any environmentally damaging land drainage or sea defence scheme going ahead in the face of objections from conservation bodies.

Mr. Curry

The environmental implications of land drainage and sea defence schemes submitted for grant aid are examined carefully and confirmation is sought that the Nature Conservancy Council are content with the proposals and that the requirements of either S.I. 1217 The Land Drainage Improvement Works (Assessment of Environmental Effects) Regulations 1988, or of S.I. 1199 The Town and Country Planning (Assessment of Environmental Effects) Regulations 1988 as appropriate, have been satisfied. In respect of all land drainage or sea defence schemes, grant-aided or not, drainage authorities have a duty under the Water Act 1989 to further conservation, and they are also obliged to fulfil the requirements of S.I. 1217 or S.I. 1199 for, respectively, improvement works and new works.

These statutory requirements are intended to ensure that consultation takes place prior to works being undertaken, and that environmentally damaging works are avoided. I am not aware that any environmentally damaging land drainage or sea defence scheme has gone ahead in the face of objections from conservation bodies.

Mr. Ron Davies

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what levels of service drainage authorities are expected to provide when assessing the need for or designing new schemes to protect urban areas and agricultural land from fluvial and sea flooding.

Mr. Curry

Drainage authorities are aware that their proposals for flood defence schemes must satisfy Ministry criteria, namely be technically sound, economically worthwhile and environmentally sympathetic; the Ministry's consideration involves a judgment of the appropriate level of service as well as priority and need for works. The Ministry does not prescribe levels of service, nor is a national prescription considered appropriate. However we are encouraging further work to establish the methodology for setting levels of service, which are expected to be a more prominent feature of judgments about the timing and nature of works, and hence to play a greater part in planning programmes. We are aware, for instance, that the National Rivers Authority are addressing the question as part of the corporate planning process.

Mr. Ron Davies

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will review the rates of grant for fluvial flood and sea defence schemes available to individual regions or local districts of the National Rivers Authority.

Mr. Curry

In undertaking fluvial flood defence schemes individual regions or local districts of the National Rivers Authority may attract grant at one of four rates: 15 per cent., 35 per cent., 45 per cent., 55 per cent. Allocation of these rates takes account of a region's or district's facility to raise finance and the programme of grant aided works being undertaken. If one or both of these factors change, a region or district may qualify for a higher or lower grant rate.

Additionally, sea and tidal defence schemes attract a supplement which, in April of this year, was increased from 15 per cent. to 20 per cent. I have no current plans for a further review of the present rates of grant, which offer support up to 75 per cent. of the cost of a scheme.

Mr. Ron Davies

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the continued viability of farm businesses in the light of the subsidy cuts agreed by the European Community's submission to the GATT round.

Mr. Curry

The Community offer on agricultural reform remains under negotiation in the GATT Round. It is premature to forecast the final agreement or its impact.

The Commission has given an undertaking to make proposals for changes in agricultural support, consistent with a GATT agreement, aimed at ensuring a viable future for Community farmers.

Mr. Ron Davies

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will indicate the priority given in the allocation of grant aid to drainage authorities between the classes of(a) urban sea defence, (b) rural sea defence, (c) urban flood relief, (d) the preservation of existing rural drainage schemes, (e) new rural drainage schemes and (f) flood warning schemes.

Mr. Curry

In the main the order of priority given in the allocation of grant provision to the National Rivers Authority (and their predecessors, the Water Authorities) is: flood warning schemes; urban sea defence; urban flood relief; rural sea defence; the preservation of existing rural drainage schemes; new rural drainage schemes. This order of priorities is also kept in mind in allocating grant to schemes undertaken by local authorities and internal drainage boards, but no scheme would be rejected for grant solely because of its position in the above order of priorities.

Mr. Ron Davies

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on how many occasions over the last six-year period an application for a licence for a mink farm has been refused; and if he will give for each case the relevant reason.

Mr. Maclean

No licences for mink farms have been refused over the last six years in Great Britain.