HC Deb 13 February 1991 vol 185 cc474-6W
Mr. Rost

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he intends to require waste disposal authorities to implement least-cost options where proposals for waste recycling or waste into energy projects are identified as cheaper than landfill;

(2) if he plans to require waste disposal authorities to seek tenders for waste disposal by landfill, waste recycling and energy from waste in parallel.

Mr. Baldry

[holding answer 12 February 1991]: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment has no power to require waste disposal authorities to choose one particular waste disposal option over any other. However, part II of schedule 2 to the Environmental Protection Act 1990 will require those authorities to subject waste disposal to competitive tendering and it will empower them to consider maximising recycling and minimising pollution, as well as value for money, when assessing tenders for waste disposal contracts.

Mr. Rost

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what capital funds and grants are available to a waste disposal authority for the construction of waste recycling centres as part of an energy-from-waste scheme using refuse-derived fuel, in a public-private sector partnership.

Mr. Baldry

[holding answer 12 February 1991]: The sources from which local authority capital commitments can be financed are:

  1. (i) credit approvals which permit capital expenditure to be financed by borrowing or by credit arrangements or specified grants to be taken up;
  2. (ii) usable capital receipts;
  3. (iii) Exchequer capital grants or contributions (other than European Community and specified capital grants) and capital grants and contributions from other persons; and
  4. (iv) revenue contributions.

A waste disposal authority may draw on any of these sources of finance for a scheme of the type described by my hon. Friend.

Country Project Company Export value £ million ATP element £ million Date authorised
Indonesia Jabotabek Railway Study L. H. Manderstam 1.000 1.000 June 1984
Malaysia Ulu Jelai Hydro Feasibility Study WLPU/Ewbank 1.850 1.850 April 1984
Thailand Mini Hydros Pilot Plant Balfour Beatty 2.500 2.500 June 1983
Indonesia Ombilin Coal Mining Training Dowty Meco 0.655 0.655 September 1982
Thailand Post-Harvest Ground Nut Study: Phase II Rural Investment Overseas 0.499 0.499 April 1984
Indonesia Jabotabek Feasibility Study Manderstam/F. Wheeler 0.007 0.007 September 1986
China Cosco Ships British Shipbuilders 44.300 13.578 July 1986
Indonesia Steel Bridging Mabey & Johnson 10.702 6.846 April 1987
Indonesia Navigational Aids Pharos Marine 9.906 7.007 April 1987
Malaysia Liwagu Hydroelectric Study Watermeyer/Ewbank 0.850 0.850 October 1986
Malaysia Rural water supervision John Taylor 3.000 3.000 October 1985
Panama Gas Turbine Power Station JBE 14.222 6.727 October 1987
Seychelles Mahe Water Consultancy Sir A. Gibb 0.122 0.122 July 1987
Zimbabwe Harare Airport Sir A. Gibb 0.257 0.257 May 1985
China Bohai Aluminium Phase I Davey McKee (Poole) 27.750 8.786 April 1988
China Yue Yang Coal Power Station GEC 171.718 51.417 July 1987
China Yue Yang Third Party Inspection Kennedy and Donkin 0.324 0.324 August 1988
China Yue Yang Monitoring Hattersley 0.273 0.273 May 1988
Egypt Leak Detection Equipment Palmer Environmental 0.251 0.251 April 1987
Indonesia Cigading Port Tarmac Consortium 17.280 13.173 March 1989
Indonesia Bandung TV Studio Quantel-Link Systems 11.735 9.201 October 1988
Indonesia Scattered Diesels GEC 6.887 5.421 January 1989
Indonesia Airport Security Systems Holmes Aviation 0.020 0.020 March 1989
Indonesia Forest Radio Communications Phillips Radio Communications 0.228 0.138 April 1988
Kenya Chemeilil Sugar Mill Crown Agents 0.003 0.003 April 1985
Kenya Power Distribution Private Consultant 0.007 0.007 November 1988
Kenya Mombasa Causeway Sir A. Gibb 0.412 0.315 April 1989
Malaysia Privatisation Programme J. H. Schroder Wagg & Co. 0.642 0.194 June 1987
Thailand Laem Chabang Port Port of Felixstowe Int. 0.151 0.151 May 1986
Zimbabwe Zisco Monitoring W. S. Atkins 0.048 0.048 October 1987
Egypt Maghara Coal Mine Babcocks 0.080 0.080 October 1988
Indonesia Radio Studios David Whittle Associates 0.390 0.390 March 1988
Indonesia Aircraft Simulator CAA 0.050 0.050 January 1990

The Government have announced that local authorities in England may bid for £10 million in supplementary credit approvals in 1991–92, which has been earmarked for investment in recycling facilities.