§ Mr. Ron DaviesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list those applications which have been sent to his Department in the current year for the lowering of effluent standards by water authorities.
§ Mr. HowardNo. On 11 May, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced at column 520 that a list of those sewage works for which applications for time-limited consents had been made had been placed in the Library of the House. These consents will regularise current performance while improvement work is undertaken as part of the £1 billion capital programme to bring sewage treatment works up to standard by March 1992. On completion, long-term consent conditions for these works, no less stringent than those which presently apply, will be imposed. The overall programme will result in significant improvements to river quality.