§ Mr. Thurnhamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his present timetable for implementation of the Reservoirs Act 1975.
§ Mr. WaldegraveIt was our intention that in the non-metropolitan counties of England, in Scotland and in Wales the parts of the Act transferring responsibility from the district councils to the upper tier and requiring owners to provide information to enable local authorities to set up registers of reservoirs in their areas should be brought into effect on 1 October 1984: and the remainder (requiring local authorities to check that owners are carrying out their existing obligations on the maintenance of reservoirs) on 1 October 1985.
However, the Government have now decided to defer these implementations until 1 April 1985 and 1 April 1986 respectively to enable maximum staff effort within the Departments to be concentrated on tackling statutory work arising from the drought. No change is intended in respect of implementation in English metropolitan counties and Greater London until the proposed re-organisation.