§ Sir John Tilneyasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has received the Water Resources Board's report on water resources in England and Wales ; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RipponThe board's report is being published today. I wish to congratulate the board on its comprehensive 277W and far-sighted report which will provide valuable assistance to the Government, the National Water Council and the water authorities.
The report deals with two periods: first, how we should meet the demand up to 1981, and then the period 1981–2001. The board recommends a series of projects to be carried out to meet the pre-1981 situation. Most of the projects have already been approved or are at an advanced stage of planning. While I cannot, of course, comment on the merits of particular schemes which may need to come to me for decision, my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Wales and I agree that the board's report provides a suitable basis for planning for the period to the beginning of the 1980s.
The board's post-1981 strategy sets out a most useful basis for the formulation of a national policy on the development of water resources. The Government intend, therefore, to refer the report to the National Water Council and to the water authorities so that they can advise on it before mid-1975, by which time policy decisions affecting the post-1981 situation will begin to be required. Any necessary further studies will be undertaken by the Central Water Planning Unit. The Government will then set out national policy guidelines for the water authorities, probably in the form of a Green Paper.
The Government have also considered the procedures for dealing with major reservoir schemes, which inevitably arouse great public interest. We attach great importance to the proper consideration of alternative sites or schemes and we propose to ask the new water authorities, wherever practicable, to provide a suitable means of public participation in the formative stage of the development of their plans before firm positions are taken up. It is hoped that in this way a local consensus on the most suitable site or scheme will develop. Where, however, water authorities face a genuine difficulty of choice between alternatives, we would expect them to submit parallel applications for planning permission for those sites.
In this context we wish to state that we fully endorse the view of the board that no firm proposals affecting a national park should be made before every possible 278W alternative has been explored. Where no practical alternative can be found, we also support the board's view that steps should be taken to ensure that there is a minimum of interference with the existing landscape and that the best use is made of the land.