§ Dr. John Cunninghamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what discussions his Department has held with Copeland borough council about the proposal in Statutory Instrument No. 1338, the Building (Second Amendment) Regulations 1981, to remove all industrial buildings on the British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. Windscale site from local authority control under the building regulations; and if he will make a statement.
§ Sir George YoungThe second amendment to the building regulations exempts operational buildings erected on any site which is licensed under the Nuclear Installations Act 1965. Windscale is part of such a site. The amendment was made after consultation with the building regulations advisory committee and other interested bodies, including the local authority associations.
§ Dr. John Cunninghamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many buildings on the British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. site at Windscale have been constructed since 1976; how many have designed to handle nuclear material; whether all buildings have been subject to building regulations control; and if he will make a statement.
§ Sir George YoungMy Department does not have the information available in the form requested but we believe that since 1976 BNFL has made 145 applications for building regulation approval in respect of its Windscale52W site; 47 of these have related to contractors' buildings and 23 to building designed to handle nuclear material. The building regulations make no distinction between buildings designed to handle nuclear material and other buildings.