§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what financial support is being given to English local authorities to meet the capital costs of dealing with contaminated land. [73505]
§ Mr. MeacherThe Contaminated Land Supplementary Credit Approval (SCA) programme has provided support to English local authorities' capital works for 12 years. It assists local authorities to fulfil their responsibilities under the contaminated land regime which was introduced on 1 April 2000, under part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. The regime makes local authorities
1148Wresponsible for identifying contaminated land as defined in the Act, and they may also be responsible for its remediation in their capacity as regulators or in carrying some responsibility for the land's condition. The SCA programme assists local authorities to meet these obligations.
I have agreed the programme for new projects to start this year. The Department has already written to the successful authorities notifying them of the allocations which have been made for these new projects, and in respect of continuing commitments for projects approved in previous years.
Some bids are still being discussed with the authorities concerned, and there may be further allocations in respect of these and any further bids received later this year. The following table sets out the allocations which have been made so far this current financial year.
Local authority Number of sites Allocation for each authority (£) Barnsley MBC 1 4,000 Bexley LB 1 50,000 Bristol City 2 216.000 Calderdale MBC 2 720,000 Cherwell DC 1 35,000 Cheshire CC 2 150,000 Chorley BC 1 13,500 Darlington BC 1 13,907 Devon CC 7 650,065 Durham CC 5 76,500 Ellesmere Port and Neston BC 1 30,500 Gateshead MBC 1 246,000 Hammersmith and Fulham LB 1 7,851 Newcastle City 3 779,935 Newham LB 1 30,219 Northamptonshire CC 7 344,983 North Lincolnshire C 1 830,000 Oldham MBC 1 9,496 Plymouth City 1 4,275 Poole B 2 60,000 Portsmouth City 1 19,500 Rotherham MBC 3 99,000 Sandwell MBC 2 7,722 Solihull MBC 1 193,000 Southampton City 2 4,200 Stoke-on-Trent City 1 12,000 Thanet DC 1 2,900 Warrington BC 1 126,015 Warwickshire CC 1 23,000 West Sussex CC 1 1,143,304