§ Mr. Peter Walkerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what progress is being made in clearing up the beaches of Durham and Cumbria; and what action he is taking to ensure that no further planning permissions are granted that would endanger the progress in clearing up these beaches.
§ Mr. Denis HowellIn Durham the problem has been to find an acceptable alternative method of disposing of waste from the coastal collieries without endangering their viability. However, tipping 341W on Blackhall beach has ceased and a reclamation scheme, with Government grant aid, is in progress on the beach and adjoining cliffs. The National Coal Board is now to construct an experimental pipeline intended to carry waste to the sea without harming the beaches or nearby fisheries and will be testing its capability over the next year.
Remedial work has now been carried out on most of the despoiled beaches of Cumbria at a cost, since 1970, of about £650,000. Relatively little now remains to be done.
The responsibility for deciding any planning applications which may affect the beaches rests with local planning authorities and I have no reason to believe that they are not seized of the need to avoid any interference with the clearing up process.