§ Mr. Nicholas Brownasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on his Department's involvement in the Byker district heating experiment.
§ Mr. TraceyThe Department currently has no direct involvement in the Byker district heating scheme.
§ Mr. Nicholas Brownasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has concerning the 393W efficiency of the Byker district heating system; and what comparative information he has relating to other district heating schemes and to individual (a) gas, (b) oil and (c) electric central heating systems.
§ Mr. TraceyThe Department has no information concerning the efficiency of this scheme. General information on the efficiencies of such schemes is available from a BRE paper, CP34/78, "The Performance of 15 District Heating Schemes". General information on the performance of individual gas, oil and electric heating schemes is available from a BRE report, "An Economic Assessment of Energy Conservation Measures in Housing" (1984) and from the Department of Energy's Energy Efficiency Office publications on "Cutting Home Energy Costs".
§ Mr. Nicholas Brownasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has concerning the installation cost of the Byker district heating scheme pipe network, the cost of maintaining the network and the cost of renewing and replacing the network; and what are the existing and forecast costs of keeping the pipe network operational.
§ Mr. TraceyThese are matters for the local authority. We have no reliable information available.
§ Mr. Nicholas Brownasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what assessment he has made of the costs of insuring the Byker district heating system;
(2) what information he has about the quality of workmanship on (a) the original Byker district heating system pipe network and (b) the replacement of the network;
(3) what information he has regarding (a) the present fuel cost to tenants on the Byker district heating scheme and (b) the comparable cost of individual central heating systems;
(4) what assessment he has made of the medium-term financial implications of the costs of the Byker district heating scheme for (a) the tenants, (b) Newcastle city council and (c) his Department; and what figures he has showing the cost implications involved in conversion to other heating systems.
§ Mr. TraceyNone. These are matters for the local authority.
§ Mr. Nicholas Brownasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what proportion of the costs of the Byker district heating system are met by (a) his Department, (b) the Newcastle city council, (c) the tenants of Byker and (d) others;
(2) what information he has relating to the operation of the boiler plant at Walbrook terrace, Newcastle; and how much of the costs of operating the boiler so far have been met by (a) his Department, (b) the local authority, (c) the tenants and (d) others.
§ Mr. TraceyThe Department does not contribute directly to the running costs of the Byker district heating scheme. There is an allowance for management and maintenance expenditure in the calculation of entitlement to housing subsidy. The local authority has discretion to fix heating charges as with other services.
§ Mr. Nicholas Brownasked the Secretary of State for the Environment, what evaluation or studies he has of the Byker refuse derived fuel pellets project; and what conclusions he has drawn from the experiment.
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§ Mr. TraceyI will write to the hon. Member.
§ Mr. Nicholas Brownasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what is the true cost of producing refuse derived fuel pellets at the Byker plant; what is the market value of the pellets; and how much is being charged to Byker district heating system for them;
(2) since commissioning for how many days the Walbrook terrace, Newcastle boiler plant has been operational; and for how many days it has been out of service.
§ Mr. TraceyThis is a matter for the local authority.
§ Mr. Nicholas Brownasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has made to Newcastle city council regarding the privatisation of the Walbrook terrace district heating boiler plant.
§ Mr. TraceyI am always interested to see proposals from local authorities for contracting out services, but the Department has made no specific approach to Newcastle city council about the Walbrook terrace plant.