Coastal Emergency Planning

HC Deb 02 July 2002 vol 388 cc215-6W

Mr. Simon Thomas

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent discussions he has held with local authorities regarding a new statutory duty for coastal emergency planning. [63748]

Mr. Jamieson

As part of the review process which culminated in the publication of the revised "National Contingency Plan for Marine Pollution from Shipping and Offshore Installations" in January 2000, officials of my Department engaged in discussions, in a working group which included representatives of local authorities, on the subject of a statutory duty to plan for shoreline clean-up and to implement such plans following marine pollution incidents.

More recently, the issue of emergency planning has been addressed in the Government's Emergency Planning Review. In the event of a generic statutory emergency planning duty being introduced under new legislation following that Review, the question would arise as to whether such a duty should apply to coastal local authorities' preparation of contingency plans for shoreline clean-up.