Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
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 paragraph 13 of the report by the Chief Executive of the South Tees Development Corporation, published on 16 December 2021, whether she has had recent discussions with the South Tees Development Corporation on the potential impact of the the excavations of quayside at South Bank Quay Phase One on levels of contamination in the River Tees in the period between 18 August 2021 and 16 December 2021.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra Ministers have had a number of meetings with those who live and work in the area, including representative of the South Tees Development Corporation. The independent Crustacean Mortality Expert Panel (CMEP) published its report in January 2023 and it is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/panel-of-independent-experts-publish-findings-into-crab-deaths. In their independent investigation, the CMEP assessed land-based sources of contaminants as potential factors in the unusual crustacean mortality event along the north-east coast of England in 2021 and 2022. The panel concluded that a novel pathogen was about as likely as not to have caused the crustacean mortality.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
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 paragraph 13 of the report by the Chief Executive of the South Tees Development Corporation, published on 16 December 2021, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the the excavations of quayside at South Bank Quay Phase One on levels of contamination in the River Tees in the period between 18 August 2021 and 16 December 2021.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The work referenced in the report by the Chief Executive of the South Tees Devel-opment Corporation, published on 16 December 2021, relates to the redevelopment of South Bank Quay. This work was set out and approved as part of a local authority planning permission, which would have specifically detailed the site remediation plans within a remediation strategy. The Environment Agency did not input into this planning process. Under the Planning Regime, it is the responsibility of the Local Planning Au-thority to ensure that issues such as land contamination and risks to controlled waters are addressed appropriately by the developer. This includes ensuring that remediation activities if required are undertaken by the developer and that there are no remaining unacceptable risks posed to the environment as part of the proposed development.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
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 the report by the Chief Executive of the South Tees Development Corporation, published on 16 December 2021, whether she has had recent discussions with the Crustacean Mortality Expert Panel on the land-based excavations set out in paragraph 13 of that report.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Crustacean Mortality Expert Panel (CMEP) considered land-based sources of toxins in their independent report and their conclusions reflect this consideration. The CMEP has been stood down, but the Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Gideon Henderson, is now consulting with relevant experts who served on the CMEP about the specifics detailed in the South Tees Development Corporation report, to check these specifics do not alter the conclusions of the report.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
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 the report by the Chief Executive of the South Tees Development Corporation, published on 16 December 2021, whether the (a) Marine Management Organisation and (b) Environment Agency have undertaken investigations into the land-based excavations set out in paragraph 13 of that report; and whether those organisations have provided advice on the (i) potential toxicity of the materials excavated, (ii) remediation and destination of those materials and (iii) steps to help tackle any concerns.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The work referenced in the report by the Chief Executive of the South Tees Development Corporation, published on 16 December 2021, relates to the redevelopment of South Bank Quay. This work was set out and approved as part of a local authority planning permission, which would have specifically detailed the site remediation plans within a remediation strategy. The Environment Agency did not input into this planning process. This is because, using a risk based approach, this planning application was screened out of the Environment Agency’s Planning Screening Tool. Under the Planning Regime, it is the responsibility of the Local Planning Authority to ensure that issues such as land contamination and risks to controlled waters are addressed appropriately by the developer. This includes ensuring that remediation activities if required are undertaken by the developer and that there are no remaining unacceptable risks posed to the environment as part of the proposed development.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
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 the report of the Joint agency investigation into Teesside and Yorkshire Coast Crab and Lobster mortalities published on 31 May 2022, if he will publish all ministerial correspondence in connection with that investigation and report with (a) the Environment Agency, (b) the Centre for Environment Fisheries & Aquaculture Science and (c) the Marine Management Organisation.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
All raw data informing the conclusions of the joint agency investigation is currently undergoing accessibility formatting and will be published shortly. Defra does not routinely publish all Minister’s correspondence and has no plans to do so in this case.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in the context of the Joint agency investigation into Teesside and Yorkshire Coast Crab and Lobster mortalities published on 31 May 2022, (a) what recent discussions his Department has had with PD Ports Teesport and (b) if he will publish all ministerial correspondence with that company on its dredging activities.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In accordance with guidelines, the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) engaged with PD Ports Teesport to ensure all dredged material was suitable for disposal at sea prior to being licenced. Additional checks were conducted by MMO during the investigation to review dredging activity and ensure all disposals at sea were conducted in line with the licences issued and relevant conditions within these.
There was no Ministerial correspondence with PD Ports Teesport.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of (a) the levels of pyridine in marine species fished in the River Tees estuary, and (b) the possible health risks of those species for human consumption.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The European Chemicals Agency states that pyridine is not considered persistent, toxic, and likely to bioaccumulate. It is also not considered a contaminant of concern for marine sediment under OSPAR (the convention for the protection of the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic), due to its high solubility in water. On this basis, pyridine is not routinely tested for in the same way as other, recognised contaminants of concern. A substance likely to be pyridine was detected in crab tissue as part of the 2021 mortality incident investigation. However, the method used is not validated for tissue detection and so the numerical results are not conclusive. Research is ongoing to validate a method of tissue detection which will then confirm the concentrations of pyridine observed.
There is very limited potential for pyridine to be present within species for human consumption due to its low likelihood to bioaccumulate.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
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 the report of the Joint agency investigation into Teesside and Yorkshire Coast Crab and Lobster mortalities published on 31 May 2022, if he will commission an independent expert analysis of the data and materials contained in that report.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
All raw data informing the conclusions of the joint agency investigation will be published shortly. This is a complex area of research, and we will continue to work with universities and other experts to understand it better.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
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 Section 4 of the report of the Joint agency investigation into Teesside and Yorkshire Coast Crab and Lobster mortalities, published on 31 May 2022, what conclusions have been reached by the Centre for Environment Fisheries & Aquaculture Science investigation commissioned by his Department to (a) ensure better preparedness for any future incident, (b) further investigate the indicative results relating to pyridine, particularly in relation to its formation as part of a ‘normal’ biological process during decomposition and (c) examine the physiological impacts of high levels of algal toxins on crustacean physiology.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The lessons learnt from the incident investigation highlight that effective cross-agency collaboration is essential to an effective investigation. Defra will look continually to improve this process.
Research and development work on pyridine is ongoing. CEFAS is developing and validating a chemical detection test to measure the amounts of pyridine in crab tissues, assessing pyridine levels in crab tissue collected last year from within and outside of the area of impact, and testing the theory that pyridine can be a natural by-product associated with the decomposition process in crabs. The same project will work to better understand the potentially harmful effects of toxins and harmful algae on crab health. This work is highly complex but is expected to be completed in March 2023.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment the Environment Agency has made of the quality of recently obtained samples of Tees water in the context of recent findings of dead crustaceans in that river.
Answered by Steve Double
The Environment Agency routinely carries out a surveillance programme of monthly water samples in the Tees estuary. Monitoring data also exist for contaminants in blue mussels, fish, and sediments, as well as in the receiving waters of permitted water discharges.
The environmental samples collected as part of the investigation into recent crab and lobster mortalities have been considered against historic data for the Tees. Data and findings have fed in to a wider Defra-led investigation and have been reported via stakeholder briefings and within the final investigation report, available here (www.gov.uk/government/publications/joint-agency-investigation-into-teesside-and-yorkshire-coast-crab-and-lobster-mortalities). The Environment Agency data are also published as Open Data, available here (://environment.data.gov.uk/water-quality/view/landing).