Mr. LazarowicTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many public refuelling points in the UK, broken down by area, sell(a) liquid petroleum gas and (b) natural gas for vehicles. [36386]
§ Mr. WilsonThe website of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association (www.lpga.co.uk) gives a regional breakdown of the number of public refuelling points in the UK. As at 13 February 2002, it is recorded as follows:
England 840 Wales 89 Scotland 89 Northern Ireland 21(1) (1) The data for Northern Ireland were obtained from the website of the Energy Saving Trust (www.estpowershift.org.uk) as at 7 February 2002. Both websites also give further detail on regional breakdown.
New sites are currently opening at more than one per day. On 14 February I launched a £1 million Boost initiative, as a supplement to the DTLR's PowerShift program, which aims to increase the uptake of LPG vehicles by:
raising consumer awareness through a targeted publicity campaign;introducing, for the first time, grants for garages to become PowerShift approved converters;promoting the benefits to rural communities where motoring costs tend to be higher taking rural mid-Wales, East Anglia and the Highlands and Islands of Scotland as focus areas for the initiative; and working with manufacturers to put more production line LPG vehicles in show rooms.According to the Natural Gas Vehicle Association (NGVA), there are 30 sites for refuelling with natural gas in the UK, 29 in England and 1 in Scotland. According to the NGVA, third party access is possible by arrangement with the suppliers at about 50 per cent. of these sites.