HC Deb 20 December 2000 vol 360 cc176-7W
Mr. Webb

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will estimate the number of new houses built in each year since 1991 in(a) the South West, (b) the former Avon area, (c) South Gloucestershire unitary authority, (d) Bristol unitary authority, (e) North Somerset unitary authority and (f) Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority. [143096]

Mr. Mullin

[holding answer 18 December 2000]: The available estimates of the number of housebuilding completions are as follows:

following the Hatfield rail crash on (i) local air quality, (ii) urban congestion and (iii) the number of road accidents. [142852]

Mr. Hill

Information from the Department's 160 Automatic Traffic Counters showed that traffic was reduced by about 20 per cent. in the week immediately following the blockade of oil refineries but quickly returned to their previous levels. Examination of the same counters around the period of the Hatfield rail crash have shown that there was no overall significant change in traffic levels but that there might have been some local effects.

Examination of the Air Quality Monitoring system showed that there was negligible effect on local air quality at the time of the oil refinery blockade. No examination has been made of the possible effects from the Hatfield rail crash.

Information on road accidents will not be available to the Department until the early summer of 2001.