§ Mr. Biffenasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will commission a study to determine the extent to which restraints on water supplies could inhibit industrial and housing development in the West Midlands and Mid-Wales and in the light of the anxieties on this topic expressed by the Severn-Trent Water Authority; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Denis HowellThe water authority has already commissioned such a study in respect of both water supplies and sewerage and sewage disposal. My Department is in close touch with the 545W authority about its capital programme and will discuss the results of the study with the authority.