§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when a decision will be reached on the designation as shellfish waters of302W each of the remaining major estuaries in Devon; and what factors underlie the delays in reaching the decision to date. [42624]
§ Angela EagleThe EC Directive concerning the quality of waters for shellfish was formally transposed in England and Wales by means of secondary legislation in June 1997. The legislation replaced the administrative arrangements under which the Directive had previously been implemented and was the first step in a process to review implementation policy, including designations. Since the legislation was enacted, work has been proceeding with the review. A review of water quality standards for some of the Directive's parameters has been completed and discussions have been held with the shellfish industry, MAFF and CEFAS (Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science) to produce a candidate list of new areas for designation, and a public consultation paper on these issues is in preparation. We expect to issue this by the summer recess, but the timing of final decisions will be dependent on the response to the consultation exercise.