HC Deb 06 April 2001 vol 366 cc320-1W
Mr. Beggs

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many projects to solve sewage problems have received EU financial support through Regulation (EEC) No. 1655/2000 of the European Parliament during(a) Phase 1, (b) Phase 2 and (c) Phase 3. [156737]

Mr. Robert Ainsworth

Three UK sewage projects have received funding from the LIFE Programme since it began in 1992. Two were funded during the first phase of the LIFE Regulation, which ran between 1992 and 1995. The third was funded during the second phase between 1996 and 1999. The third phase runs from 2000 to 2004. As yet no awards have been made during this phase.

In 1992 the LIFE Programme contributed euro 711.554 to a Wetland Reedbed Treatment of Sewage put forward by the Fife Regional Council. The project ran from January 1993 to March 1997. In the same year the programme contributed euro 352.537,28 towards a Continuous Microfiltration System put forward by a company called MEMCOR based in Derbyshire. This project ran from December 1992 to April 1996.

The third project was from a company called Montgomery Watson Ltd., in Buckinghamshire, and was funded in 1995. The project ran from April 1995 to April 1997, and the programme contributed euro 301.254,48. The project aimed to demonstrate a sustainable, affordable wastewater strategy using aquatic/marginal plants for smaller communities of the European Union, and was based in Northern Greece.

Further information about these projects and ones which have received funding in other member states can be found on the European Commission's website, where there is a searchable database with in formation about all 600 plus projects selected under LIFE I and II.

The website can be found at http//europa.eu.int/comm/life/envir/database.htm