Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government why Natural England has not used its power to apply to the Secretary of State for creation orders to be made to create rights of way to inaccessible islands of public access land, under section 58 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
By default, the power to create new public rights of way to reach open access land sits with local highway and access authorities, for use in any particular case where they consider there is a need for such a way and that making an order is expedient. The local authority is normally best placed to make these judgements in the light of all the local circumstances on the ground. We are aware though that the original mapping exercise under the 2000 Act focused on capturing areas as open country or registered common land, rather than on whether there was any legal way for members of the public to reach mapped areas in order to enjoy open-air recreation on them. We also recognised in a previous answer on 17 January that not all downland was mapped satisfactorily under the original exercise, and it appears that inaccessible ‘islands’ occur especially on that land type at present. Natural England will consider both issues when reviewing the open access maps. We have committed to ensuring that these are reviewed by the statutory deadline of 1 January 2031.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with civil society groups about the disproportionate impact of air pollution on (1) people living in poverty, and (2) ethnic minority communities.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises there is more to do to protect all people in our society and the environment from the effects of air pollution. This is why we are taking the significant and wide-ranging action to drive improvements to air quality as set out in our Environmental Improvement Plan 2023.
As part of the Air Quality Information System (AQIS) review, officials engaged in a series of semi-structured interviews with civil society groups with the aim of learning directly from groups who either: (1) have first-hand experience communicating messages about air quality directly to communities; or (2) represent communities that may be disproportionately impacted by air pollution. The insights from these interviews will be incorporated into the AQIS recommendations which will be published in summer 2024.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they decided on 2050 as the final deadline for the Environmental Improvement Plan.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government on what basis the Environmental Improvement Plan targets for non-household water use to reduce by nine per cent by 2038 and 15 per cent by 2050 were made.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government on what basis the Environmental Improvement Plan targets for water companies to reduce per capita consumption by nine per cent by 2027, 14 per cent by 2032, and 20 per cent by 2038, until average use is 110 litres per day by 2050, were determined.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government on what basis the Environmental Improvement Plan targets to reduce leakage by 20 per cent by 2027, 30 per cent by 2032, and by 50 per cent 2050, were made.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration was given to the River Severn transfer option during the selection process which, identifying "best value", opted for Thames Water's proposed Teddington direct river abstraction; and what role any public support for the River Severn transfer option and any social, environmental and economic benefits of restoring heritage waterways played in that consideration.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Water Resources South East (WRSE) regional group has developed a regional water resource resilience plan for the South East region of England. They have modelled around 2,400 options to meet water demand in the southeast. These comprised many different types of options, including a Severn Thames Transfer alongside reservoirs, transfers, water recycling schemes, as well as options for developing new and existing sources of water. These options were put through a rigorous options appraisal process to develop a preferred best value plan to serve people and the environment in the southeast.
Thames Water are part of WRSE and are responsible for developing their statutory Water Resource Management Plan (WRMP) for their supply area, to provide the secure water supplies expected by customers. Thames Water’s WRMP is aligned with the WRSE plan and therefore proposes supply options that are best value, taking into account social, environmental and economic benefits. Thames Water have consulted on their draft WRMP, considered consultation responses and produced a statement of response (as attached).
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what range of impact assessments they expect Thames Water to provide regarding the consequences for local wildlife habitats arising from construction of their proposed Teddington direct river abstraction on green spaces categorised as Metropolitan Open Land, such as Ham Lands and Moormead Park in St Margaret’s.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Thames Water is required to provide further assessments through the RAPID (Regulators Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development) gated planning process to ensure that all potential impacts of the Teddington direct river abstraction (DRA) scheme are assessed and investigated, including any impacts on green spaces. The design and location of elements of the scheme are still at the conceptual design stage of development. Any scheme developed will have to meet environmental and planning requirements. The suite of assessments required will depend on the final design of the scheme and nature/location of impacts which are expected to be identified through the Gate 3 planning process.
The proposed Teddington DRA is expected to take the Development Consent Order planning route, which will require an Environmental Impact Assessment of the scheme’s impacts as part of the planning process. Where possible we expect environmental enhancements to be included in the scheme design.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Environment Agency report that said Thames Water had so far failed to show that the proposed Teddington direct river abstraction was "feasible or environmentally acceptable", what further assessments of impacts on habitats, biodiversity net gain and health, as well as social impacts on local communities, Thames Water will be expected to produce.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The feasibility of Teddington is considered as part of Thames Water’s statutory Water Resource Management Plan (WRMP) development with specific guidelines for environmental assessment. WRMPs are also subject to Strategic Environmental Assessment. The feasibility and the environmental acceptability of Teddington is being investigated as part of the RAPID (Regulators Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development) gated process and with more detailed project level environmental and social impact assessment undertaken to support planning or Development Consent Order applications, notably Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Regulations requirements. EIA is also needed to support any applications for other regulatory consents. In all cases impacts on habitats, biodiversity net gain and health, as well as social impacts on local communities need to be considered and public consultation is required.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the selection of the Teddington direct river abstraction proposal, what investigations they expect Thames Water to undertake regarding per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in the water courses in England and Wales, with particular reference to treated effluent at Mogden Sewage Treatment Works, further to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the USA concerning connections between women diagnosed with some hormonally driven cancers and exposure to certain PFASs in household and industrial products.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
For Teddington direct river abstraction proposal to be taken forward Thames Water will be required to obtain an abstraction licence and permit to discharge from the Environment Agency. These set out the conditions under which abstraction is authorised to take place and the standards to which the discharged effluent must be treated, ensuring it is treated to a high standard to meet environmental and human health quality standards. The Environment Agency regulates discharge permits by assessing the quality of the effluent discharged against set compliance limits. Thames Water will need to undertake any investigations necessary to meet those regulatory requirements.