§ Mr. Harry BarnesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has any plans to relax sewage works consent standards and to advertise such relaxations.
§ Mr. Moynihan[holding answer 15 February 19891: My hon. Friend the Minister for Water announced on 7 December 1988 at column 199, that applications for temporary variations in discharge consent conditions will be considered for those sewage works where capital improvements are programmed for completion by March 1992.
Section 36 of the Control of Pollution Act 1974 provides that an application need not be advertised where the discharges in question have no appreciable effect on receiving waters.
Decisions on whether to advertise applications for consent variations will be taken on a case-by-case basis.