Written question asked by Lord Deben (Conservative) on Friday, 22 October 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 15 November 2004. It was answered by Elliot Morley (Labour) on Monday, 15 November 2004 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has discussed the weighting given to heritage in the calculation of need for coastal defences with her counterpart in the Dutch government.

Answer: Mr. Gummer: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she has discussed the weighting given to heritage in the calculation of need for coastal defences with her counterpart in the Dutch Government. [193487] Mr. Morley: I have had informal discussions with ministerial colleagues in the Netherlands on matters relating to coastal defences but have not discussed this specific point with them. Officials from our two countries meet on a regular basis. Recognising the benefits to be gained by shared experiences both in respect of policy and engineering solutions, officials from the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Denmark and England agreed to meet on an annual basis more than five years ago and so formed the North Sea Coastal Managers Group. The English delegation is led by my Chief Engineer. Meetings of the group have proved an invaluable forum for the exchange of information. However, it is important to recognise that there are differences between the Netherlands and England both in terms of the geography of the coastline and the proportion of the economic wealth at risk of flooding.

Secondary information