§ Mr. Simon ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) how many licences have been issued for sand extraction in(a) the UK, (b) Wales and (c) Ceredigion in each of the last 10 years; [67030]
(2) what volume of sand was extracted through licences issued by her Department in (a) the UK, (b) Wales and (c) Ceredigion in each of the last 10 years. [67029]
§ Mr. McNultyI have been asked to reply.
Sand extraction above mean low water comes within the planning powers of Local Minerals Planning Authorities. There are no central UK-wide, English or Welsh records of numbers of planning permissions issued for such extraction. Over the past 10 years, successive Secretaries of State with responsibility for planning have granted planning permission on appeal and in respect of called-in planning applications in England and Wales for a number of sand extraction proposals but there are no central UK-wide, English or Welsh records of the total tonnage of sand only permitted on a year-by-year basis.
38WNearly all sand extraction below mean low water is licensed by the Crown Estate, which owns most of the seabed around the UK coast. The Crown Estate advise me that:
- (a) it has granted the following numbers of aggregate (including sand) dredging licences in the UK and Wales over the past 10 years:
UK Wales 1991 0 0 1992 1 0 1993 1 0 1994 0 0 1995 3 0 1996 0 0 1997 2 1 1998 1 1 1999 1 0 2000 2 0 2001 1 0 Total 12 2
- (b) the following tonnages of aggregates (including sand) were extracted from UK and Welsh waters through licences that it has issued in each of the last 10 years:
Total extraction UK (tonnes) Total Extraction Wales (tonnes) 1991 18,418,044 2,015,721 1992 19,271,492 2,354,782 1993 17,962,785 2,133,668 1994 20,792,887 2,211,015 1995 20,953,624 2,235,543 1996 19,392,937 1,948,028 1997 19,959,782 2,030,693 1998 20,471,191 1,878,373 1999 20,910,185 1,717,428 2000 23,056,885 1,602,394 2001 21,151,015 1,549,431 Total 222,340,827 21,677,076 and that
- (c) it has granted no licences in waters off Ceredigion.
§ Mr. Simon ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she plans to(a) increase and (b) reform sand extraction in (i) the UK, (ii) Wales and (iii) Ceredigion; and if she will make a statement. [67028]
§ Mr. McNultyI have been asked to reply.
The rates of production from areas with the benefit of planning permission for extraction of sand from the land and areas subject to marine minerals dredging licences at sea depend on demand from the market, although marine consents and some planning permissions for extraction from land specify maximum annual tonnage that can be removed. Policies for the supply of sand, administration of the development control system, and determination of applications for marine minerals dredging licences are devolved matters which are, in Wales, for the Welsh Assembly Government.