§ Mr. Barry Jonesasked the Secretary of State for Wales what are the estimated reserves of sand and gravel within the area of each Welsh county, what estimates he has of the requirements for sand and gravel in the Principality up to the end of the century, what mineral reserves in Wales he expects to be worked out before the end of the century, and if he will make a statement.
69W
§ Mr. Mark RobinsonThe most recent estimates of permitted reserves of land-won sand and gravel were made by the aggregates working parties for North Wales and South Wales following a survey of the position on 1 January 1982. The figures are:
Permitted sand and gravel reserves at 1.1.82 Million Tonnes NORTH WALES Clwyd 15.3 Gwynedd 4.6 South Wales Dyfed 1.2 Powys Mid Glamorgan 0.5 West Glamorgan Gwent Nil South Glamorgan Nil Note: Figures for South Wales are bracketed for reasons of commercial confidentiality.
Reserves of marine deposits and gravel were not quantifiable.
Requirements for the production of sand and gravel for the period 1981–1991 as identified by the aggregates working parties are set out in Welsh Office circular 30/82, "Guidelines for Aggregates Provision in England and Wales". The requirements for both land-won and marine-dredged production for 1981–1991 are:
Region Requirement for sand and gravel Million Tonnes North Wales 17.26 South Wales 14.25 Further surveys of both permitted reserves and forecast demand will be carried out in 1986.
Reserves of sand and gravel or other minerals likely to be worked out over a future period cannot be readily or accurately assessed.
1979–80 Outturn £M 1980–81 Outturn £M 1981–82 Outturn £M 1982–83 Outturn £M 1983–84 Outturn £M 1984–85 Estimated Outturn £M 1985–86 Provision M Clwyd 16.7 13.3 18.5 15.1 15.0 12.3 12.8 Dyfed 18.9 16.5 20.2 16.2 16.7 17.7 17.3 Gwent 13.6 14.5 17.5 14.2 14.0 14.8 24.5 Gwynedd 16.5 13.6 16.2 13.1 12.7 13.6 14.9 Mid Glamorgan 17.8 15.7 19.7 16.9 17.5 17.0 18.0 Powys 14.6 12.8 10.8 8.7 11.0 11.1 11.2 South Glamorgan 12.4 10.9 12.4 12.1 12.8 9.9 10.2 West Glamorgan 12.6 11.1 12.5 12.2 11.7 13.7 13.0 Wales 122.9 108.4 127.8 108.5 114.4 110.1 121.7 (Note: Figures include certain expenditure by local authorities on road safety and lighting installation: together this amounted to only about 1% of the local authority total in 1981–82 (the last year for which separate figures are available).)
The 1984 national road maintenance condition survey indicates that the overall condition of roads in England and