§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to assess the cost of decontaminating land in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. TrippierNo. It is not possible to make a realistic estimate of the costs nationwide. However, the Government have introduced legislation—section 143 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990—to require local authorities to set up registers of land that has been subject to contaminative use, and I am pleased to be able to inform the House that a consultation paper with our proposals for registers has just been published. A copy has been placed in the Library of the House.
When registers are established, we shall know for the first time how much land may be contaminated. Any assessment of the need for decontamination, the methods to be used and their cost would, however, have to be carried out individually for each site as the need arises. The Government are also carrying out research on these issues and we shall publish guidance on them when the results are to hand.