§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how many uncapped disused lead mines he estimates there are in Derbyshire;
(2) what is his estimate of the cost to landowners or occupiers in the county of Derbyshire, assuming mine owners cannot be traced, in relation to making safe disused mine shafts;
(3) how many accidents have been recorded of people having fallen down disused mine shafts in Derbyshire and Lancashire;
(4) what record he has of the value of stock lost through falling down disused mine shafts in Derbyshire.
§ Mr. OakesThere are estimated to be between 50,000 and 100,000 disused lead mine shafts in Derbyshire, very few of which are capped. The total cost of capping them all might be between £10 million and £20 million, depending on the number eventually found and the technical difficulties encountered. The number of landowners or ocupiers concerned is not known.
Four persons are recorded as having fallen down mine shafts in Derbyshire since 1962; there are no records for Lancashire. I have no information about stock.
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will estimate the range of cost for (a) affixing warning 160W notices in the vicinity of disused mine shafts, (b) fencing the area concerned, and (c) capping the shaft.
§ Mr. OakesThe cost of affixing notices would comprise mainly the cost of staff time travelling to and from the location of a shaft. No range of cost is available.
Circumstances may vary so widely that any attempt to estimate a range of cost would have little validity. But to take an example it is estimated that a shaft of 4–6 ft. diameter, surrounded by stable ground and reasonably accessible, would cost about £20 to fence and £200 to cap.
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what use has been made of Section 151(2) of the Mines and Quarries Act 1954 for dealing with the statutory nuisance arising from abandoned mine shafts employing the provisions of the Public Health Act 1936;
(2) how many abatement notices under Section 93 of the Public Health Act 1936 have been issued during the past five years in respect of unsafe mine shafts; and how many nuisance orders have been issued in respect of the same during the past decade.
§ Mr. OakesBy virtue of Section 151(2) of the Mines and Quarries Act 1954 certain mine shafts and quarries are deemed to be statutory nuisances for the purpose of applying the statutory nuisance provisions contained in Part III of the Public Health Act 1936. Responsibility for enforcing the provisions about abatement notices rests with local authorities and information about the number served is not collected centrally. Nuisance orders are made by the courts and again no central record is available.
§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what has been the cost to public funds of maintaining a fence around a disused mine or a cap thereon during the past decade.