§ Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what consultations she has had with the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions in respect of the implications of the Planning Reform White Paper for her Department's White Paper on radioactive waste management. [25166]
§ Mr. MeacherThe Department has had several contacts with the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions on this issue. That Department's 12 December paper "Planning: delivering a fundamental change" proposes reforms to the planning system, and its consultation paper of 17 December sets out new parliamentary procedures for processing major infrastructure projects. Radioactive waste facilities are among the projects to which these procedures could apply.
Our 12 September consultation paper "Managing radioactive waste safely" asks the public for comments, by 12 March 2002, on a proposed programme for reaching decisions on managing solid radioactive waste over thousands of years. Each Department consulted the other before publishing its paper. The Department's paper is not a White Paper as such and does not itself propose any infrastructure projects, but such proposals may one day result from our decision-making process. Our Departments will therefore continue to discuss planning and radioactive waste policy issues.