§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has yet placed a contract for research into problems associated with methane and other gas discharges from abandoned coal mines; and when it is planned that the study will report.
§ Mr. BaldryFollowing a tender competition, an offer of a contract to investigate the appropriate response of the planning system to methane and other gas emissions from disused coal mines has been made to Wardell Armstrong. The details of the contract are being negotiated and it is expected that work will commence in March. The results will be reported in the spring of 1995.