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Contaminated Brownfield Sites

: On the first point, I confirm that funds are available from ODPM—not from DEFRA. There is a fund that local authorities can apply to. How much they get and for what depends on the individual circumstances and the basis of the application, and is a matter for the local authority and ODPM. I can give the hon. Gentleman some longer-term comfort. DEFRA and the Environment Agency have published the contaminated land exposure assessment, the CLEA, which I think he mentioned. That is a methodology—a series of reports—of which the SGVs are just one part. It provides a scientifically-based framework for the assessment of land contamination and the risk to human health. That technical guidance also applies when we are considering regulatory action of proposals for development of the land. Under the CLEA methodology a wide range of guidance is available, not just from the Government but from external experts. The SGV taskforce is also considering the most recent guidance, contaminated land advice note 2/05, which addresses the short-term points, and a development team is working on additional technical guidance. It remains to be seen what will emerge from that work. However, as the CLAN indicates, it is recognised that we need something to bridge the gap between a tox value and an SGV properly applied. It also suggests how that will inform the assessor and what the legal test demands where part IIA of the Act is applied to an area of land. That should deal with the point about the long-term assessment in relation to the risks. As I mentioned, a number of sites fall into the category mentioned by the hon. Gentleman, many of them in the north-east because of its industrial legacy. In the majority of those cases, I am not aware of any long-term problems following remediation. in the majority of those cases. There may well be cases of which I am unaware, but once action has been taken to deal with remediation, there should be no reason for long-term blight. It is uncertainty and doubt which tend to cause blight on people's houses. As we have seen in the debate, the kind of doubts that can blight property values include questions about what figures mean and whether they mean that is contaminated or not. It can be difficult, but when those questions have been resolved and the contamination level and therefore what needs to be done have been clearly assessed, and when remedial action has been taken, the sites do not just technically comply with requirements in relation to contaminated land, but they legally comply with them as well. Post-remediation, there really should be no problem with the long-term future of those properties. I hope that that reassures the hon. Gentleman and his constituents. Apart from applications for grants relating to the land, funding is available to help local authorities with their investigation, as well as the remedial costs. DEFRA has some funds available under the contaminated land capital projects programme. I am reluctant to make them public, but the hon. Gentleman has dragged the existence of that money out of me. About £17 million is available to local authorities for carrying out their duties to investigate contaminated land in their area and seeing to its remediation. The Government's revenue support grant helps to cover local authorities' revenue expenditure. An element for that work was added to the RSG in 1997 to support the introduction and implementation of the regime. However, the local government finance system means that the RSG is not ring-fenced to particular functions; it is distributed on a generalised formula. The hon. Gentleman may like to know that East Cambridgeshire district council bid in 2004 for the Littleport site and received £17,000 for the investigation. A further bid was made in 2005–06 for just over £17,000, which was also approved. Those sums of money are for investigations to help the council to decide whether the land presents an unacceptable risk, and therefore needs to be formally determined as contaminated land under part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. DEFRA has issued a letter of intent for a successful bid. Once expenditure takes place on site, a sum is added to the Government's RSG settlement. Support is based on the notional cost of borrowing money and of paying it back over 20 years, and distributed in accordance with the RSG formula. The relevance of this, as I mentioned, is significant harm. So I can tell the hon. Member for North-East Cambridgeshire that there are guidelines, and that they are being revised. Some of the points raised in the debate are being addressed through the taskforce. There is financial help to assist councils in addressing those issues, and providing the reassurance and security that his constituents, and those of other hon. Members, clearly want.