§ Mr. Michael BrownTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he is taking to bring bathing waters up to European standards.
§ Mr. HowardOn 4 October the Government sent to the Commission of the European Communities details of investment programmes designed to facilitate compliance by the United Kingdom with its obligations under the bathing water directive. Overall, around £1.1 billion will be spent improving bathing waters over the next 10 years.
Summary details of the investment programme are given in the following table. A list of individual schemes has been placed in the Library. Many of the schemes are at an early stage of development and are therefore subject to modification in the light of further assessment. For the same reason the estimated costs and completion dates are subject to change. Nevertheless by the mid-1990s we expect around 95 per cent. of our bathing waters to meet the directives standards and the full compliance programmes should be completed within 10 years. 262W
Investment Programme to Achieve Compliance with Bathing Water Directive £ million Northumbrian Water plc 86.2 Yorkshire Water plc 28.9 Anglian Water plc 150.1 Southern Water plc 216.7 Wessex Water plc 23.6 South West Water plc 312.5 Welsh Water plc 96.8 North West Water plc 147.2 Scotland 45.7 Northern Ireland 7.0 United Kingdom 1,114.7