Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risk of pollution and flooding resulting from the dumping of electric hire-scheme bikes in canals and rivers, as reported by the Canal and River Trust.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As announced in December’s English Devolution White Paper, the Government will legislate to empower local leaders to regulate hire bike schemes. These powers will enable local authorities to better identify and tackle issues arising from schemes, such as antisocial behaviour.
Dumped e-bikes are an eyesore and nuisance however they represent a very low pollution risk overall to river water quality. This is because the amount of pollution that could come from them is extremely small when considering overall dilution by the river. However, they should be removed as soon as possible to minimise any risk from degradation of batteries etc, which over time could release low levels of pollution.
The EA use their permissive powers to carry out routine maintenance on some designated main rivers, which includes obstruction removal.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the report of the Climate Change Committee Progress in adapting to climate change: 2025 report to Parliament, published on 30 April, what infrastructure investment and resilience planning it is undertaking.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We welcome the Climate Change Committee’s constructive assessment, recognising the progress that has been made in planning for climate change across our transport system and the economy, as well as areas for improvement.
As part of our Plan for Change we are investing a record £2.65 billion to repair and build flood defences, protecting tens of thousands of homes and businesses and helping local communities become more resilient to the effects of climate change such as overheating and drought.
One of the core objectives of the government’s forthcoming 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy is enabling resilient growth. This includes ensuring that growth is resilient to climate change. The 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy will set out how flood risk management infrastructure, and other actions to increase resilience to the physical effects of climate change, can protect existing, and enable new, economic activity.
We are considering the Climate Change Committee’s Progress Report and will respond to its recommendations in October as required by the Climate Change Act.