§ Mr. Chris SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what advice he has received from English Nature on whether the intertidal mud flats of Lappel bank on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, qualify on scientific grounds for inclusion within the proposed Medway Estuary and Marshes special protection area and Ramsar site.
§ Mr. YeoEnglish Nature has advised that Lappel bank is a good quality roductive feeding and sheltering ground 535W for a range of bird species and is an integral part of the Medway estuary and marshes potential special protection area. I understand that the area of Lappel bank is less than I per cent. of the proposed Medway SPA.
§ Mr. Chris SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will reconsider his provisional intention to exclude Lappel bank from the Medway estuary and marshes special protection area following the judgment of the European Court of Justice in case C-355/90 relating to the Santona marshes in Spain.
§ Mr. YeoThe Secretary of State is currently considering whether the Medway estuary and marshes should be designated as an SPA and whether Lappel bank should be included. The Santona marshes judgment is one of many factors which he will take into account before reaching his decision.
§ Mr. Chris SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what account he has taken of the research into the hydrodynamic effects of port expansion in the rest of the estuary, carried out by the university of Hull and commissioned by English Nature; and if he will now consider the revocation of the extant planning permission on Lappel bank.
§ Mr. YeoThe Secretary of State is currently considering whether the extant planning permission for the reclamation of 22 ha at Lappel bank should be revoked. The report on the "Medway Estuary Coastal Process and Conservation", produced by the Institute of Estuarine and Coastal Studies, is one of many factors which he will take into account before reaching his decision.