Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Amanda Milling and Andrea Leadsom
Andrea Leadsom
The hon. Lady is exactly right to speak out for her community, which is precisely why we are undertaking the consultation. We want to take all the factors into account. I am sure that she and Opposition Members will agree that it is right that we move away from the dirtiest fossil fuels over time, but in a measured way, taking into account the impact on local communities and their livelihoods and what other opportunities there are for them in the energy space and in the workplace. I can totally assure her that we will consult carefully.
Amanda Milling (Cannock Chase) (Con)
12. If Rugeley B, a coal-fired power station in my constituency, shuts this summer, will my hon. Friend commit to working across Departments to ensure that any application for a new gas power station can be dealt with in a timely manner that will help to create future job opportunities for the highly skilled workforce at the plant?
Andrea Leadsom
I congratulate my hon. Friend again on all the work she has done on that. I know it is an incredibly important constituency issue for her. I met her and a number of colleagues only recently to talk about the possibility of coal-fired power stations due to close becoming new combined cycle gas turbines. I welcome and encourage her efforts to support such an outcome. I have already told her that I will happily write to the Department for Communities and Local Government to ask what more, if anything, can be done to make it easier for planning permission to be granted for a new CCGT on the site of an old coal-fired power plant, and I will do that. She will be aware that DCLG is separately holding a consultation for those who are interested in making that transition, so that they can better understand the processes they would need to go through.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Amanda Milling and Andrea Leadsom
Andrea Leadsom
It is extraordinary that the hon. Gentleman should say that, because Scottish consumers are huge beneficiaries of locational charging. He needs to look at the situation in the round. Scottish consumers benefit from being part of a Great Britain-wide energy market. Had the Scots voted for independence, today would have been the day when they were on their own. Issues such as the price of energy and the locational pricing would have worked very much to their detriment without that GB-wide market.
Amanda Milling (Cannock Chase) (Con)
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Jeremy Lefroy) for raising the possibility of a gas-fired power station at Rugeley B if the existing power station is closed. Existing infrastructure with national grid connectivity and a highly skilled work force could be used in that event. What measures are being taken to encourage the development of gas-fired power stations on sites such as Rugeley B, where energy generation has been taking place for decades?
Andrea Leadsom
My hon. Friend has done a great job in promoting that idea, and, while I do not want to stray into the realms of telling a private company what to do, we would be very pleased if this company looked into the opportunities for establishing a new gas plant. The capacity market auction will give certainty to potential providers of new gas plants, and should lead the company to consider those opportunities very seriously.