§ Mr. KeetchTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how much public money has been spent by the Environment Agency on(a) the River Wye Navigation Order application under the Transport and Works Act 1992 since the lodging of the application in April 1986 and (b) the River Wye Navigation Bye-Laws under the Water Resources Act 1991 application, since the lodging of the application in October 1994; and if he will make a statement. [46960]
§ Angela EagleThe costs incurred by the Environment Agency and its predecessor body, the National Rivers Authority (NRA), in promoting an Order to become the navigation authority on the Rivers Wye and Lugg amount to approximately £450,000 since 1995 when the proposals were first put forward. The majority of these costs were incurred in preparing for and conducting the public inquiry following objections to the application submitted to the Secretaries of State for the Environment and for Wales in March 1996.
The costs incurred by the Agency and the NRA since the submission of the application for the confirmation of the River Wye Navigation Byelaws in September 1994 is approximately £114,000. The majority of these costs were incurred in preparing for and conducting a public inquiry into this application which ran immediately after the inquiry into the navigation authority application.
§ Mr. KeetchTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on the Government's policy regarding the use of the River Wye for leisure activities. [46958]
§ Angela EagleSubject to its environment and recreational duties, it is for the Environment Agency to draw up policies for individual rivers for which it is the responsible authority. The Government do not prepare such policies.