§ Mr. AmosTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on proposals for cost-recovery charging for pollution regulatory authorities' costs.
§ Mr. TrippierOn 30 January this year I announced that, subject to enactment of the Environmental Protection Bill, cost-recovery charges to meet the costs of Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution (HMIP) and the National Rivers Authority in administering integrated pollution control (IPC) would be introduced as from April 1991; and that the scheme would be based on an application fee payable when a process is submitted for IPC authorisation and an annual charge payable for holding each authorisation to cover the on-going costs of compliance monitoring. The level of charges for a particular plant would be linked to the number of specified "components" which it comprised, thus relating the amount payable to the size and complexity of the plant concerned.
My Department has now published a consultation paper on proposals for the detailed operation of this scheme, inviting comment from industry, environmental groups and others with an interest.
The paper also sets out proposals for charging schemes for local authority air pollution control of the "part B" process, and for the regulation of premises under the Radioactive Substances Act 1960.
I have placed a copy of the paper in the Library.