Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to Autumn Budget 2017, if he will list the 25 new schemes that will receive a share of the £36 million funding for flood protection; and what criteria his Department used to allocate that funding.
Answered by Baroness Coffey
The £36 million of the £76 million funding announced for flood defence at the Autumn 2017 Budget has been allocated to the 37 projects in the list attached. The criteria was that each scheme needed to be a new project that could be completed in the next 3 years, that schemes needed to either generate sufficient benefits in terms of reduced flood risk to qualify for 100% Government funding or have a high confidence of securing any partnership contributions needed.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 13 December 2017 to Question 118084, on Dredging, what steps he has taken to ensure that works relating to the development of the Hinkley B site comply with the London Convention 1972.
Answered by George Eustice
The Secretary of State is the appropriate licensing authority for the English inshore and offshore regions, although most of the Secretary of State’s licensing functions have been delegated to the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 (MCAA). Under Section 71(6) of the MCAA the MMO is required to comply with international law when exercising its licensing functions, including the London Protocol 1996. This Protocol was adopted in 1996 to modernise the London Convention 1972.
The MMO has issued one licence for maintenance activities at Hinkley Point B for the removal of sand and cobble material along the base of the sea wall, in order to keep the power station’s surface water drains clear. The licence is valid between 2015 and 2025, and allows for removed material to be deposited or ‘spread’ across a beach located to the east of Hinkley Point B.
Any dredging activities associated with the original construction of Hinkley Point B station would have been considered by the relevant regulator at the time of the application.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what process his Department undertook to ensure that the UK has complied fully with the London Convention 1972 in issuing the dredge and disposal permit Marine Licence 12/45/ML?
Answered by George Eustice
Marine Licence 12/45/ML was issued by Natural Resources Wales, which is a matter for the Devolved Administration.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what process his Department undertook to ensure that UK has complied fully with OSPAR guidance in issuing the dredge and disposal permit Marine Licence 12/45/ML.
Answered by George Eustice
Marine Licence 12/45/ML was issued by Natural Resources Wales, which is a matter for the Devolved Administration.