§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
How the "value" of World Heritage Sites, Sites of Special Scientific Interest, of Areas of Outstanding Beauty, of Urban Open Spaces, of Green Belts, of archaeological and historic sites and of Environmentally Sensitive Areas is currently calculated for purpose of cost-benefit analysis within the Department of Transport; whether their negative "potential for development" is taken into account as positively contributing to their "value", or as reducing it; and what are the qualifications of those who calculate these values and conduct these analyses.
The Earl of CaithnessThe Government are committed to ensuring that potential environmental impacts are given full weight alongside other costs and benefits of road schemes. A full environmental assessment is made of all road schemes in the national roads programme, and it remains government policy 81WA to avoid sensitive areas wherever possible. In cases where avoidance is impossible, every effort is made to mitigate any adverse effects the road may have.
At present, monetary valuation of environmental effects is not part of the cost-benefit analysis of road schemes. However, following the recent recommendations of the Standing Advisory Committee on Trunk Road Assessment, the Department of Transport has agreed that a substantial research programme is required to develop reliable monetary values for environmental effects. As a first step, a research contract has been let which will attempt to value the nuisance from traffic encountered by people in their homes.