§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish the advice his Department has issued on how the introduction of hydropower schemes can assist flood prevention. [144867]
§ Mr. Morley[holding answer 11 January 2001]: No such advice has been issued by the Government. Relevant extracts from the Environment Agency's internal guidance in their Development Control Manual are as follows:
6.3.13—Hydropower
In support of the Government's policy to enhance the use of renewable energy sources the Agency aims to co-operate with developers over the use of weirs for electricity generation.The construction, operation or alteration of impoundments should not however be permitted to adversely affect upstream or downstream water levels. Nor should there be impediment to field 60W drainage, and channel velocities should not be permitted to adversely affect channel stability. In many cases these concerns can be overcome by appropriate design.Some hydropower proposals utilise existing "mill type" buildings to house generating and switching equipment and may not therefore create new problems. However, sites requiring new buildings and structures in the floodplain are more difficult to accommodate. The Agency must be satisfied that the scale and location of such buildings and structures create no overall detriment, and that appropriate compensatory works are incorporated into the design.19.2.5Increasingly, existing weirs are being considered for the possible generation of hydropower. In support of the Government's policy to enhance the use of renewable energy sources the Environment Agency encourages the use of hydropower and aims to co-operate with developers in accordance with its duties, powers and available resources. Nevertheless, the Agency must be satisfied that the design of hydropower schemes will not create or exacerbate land drainage or flood defence problems before granting Land Drainage Consent.While there is a policy of generally supporting such schemes, there is a need to ensure that they are compatible with other interests, including environmental considerations and the risks associated with development in the flood plain. Environmental issues are likely to weigh particularly heavily in any proposed large-scale impoundment for hydro-electric generation. There are unlikely to be many circumstances in which such schemes could be managed to provide genuine flood defence benefits and be economically viable. However, novel approaches to flood risk management including this can be considered in the whole river catchment assessment studies that will be conducted using part of the £51 million additional funding recently secured for flood defence.