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Electricity Pylons (Southerham)

: I am not aware that we would normally do that, but I shall check and get back to the hon. Gentleman. [Interruption.] I have just been passed a bit of information that says, ““No””. As I said, the inspector's report is currently awaited and the Secretary of State for Transport and the Deputy Prime Minister will be jointly responsible for taking a decision. The hon. Gentleman will know that I cannot pre-empt the need for Secretaries of State to consider and to weigh carefully the report's recommendations. The hon. Gentleman talked about the history, but it is worth putting on record some more information from the Department for Transport's point of view. The events took place around 30 years ago. The 132 kV underground cable at Southerham was diverted overhead on a temporary diversion to enable the construction of the eastern end of the Lewes bypass. It is also known that the temporary diversion was subsequently made permanent through due process and that the decision to do so was unsuccessfully challenged in the early 1980s. The permanent diversion is therefore now legally in place. As I said, Ministers have to decide formally on any recommendation made by the A27 inquiry inspector, but the cables and pylon now form part of the permanent route that does not need further diversion. Furthermore, I am informed that the supply company, EDF Energy, does not have any operational reasons for diverting the supply. The hon. Gentleman referred to the fact that Ofgem has a scheme of grants to be used to place overground cables underground when there are environmental gains to be made. Although the Highways Agency and EDF have no current reason to divert supply, I am aware that together with the South Downs joint committee, which is the authority responsible for this area of outstanding natural beauty, they continue to be involved in the pursuit of possible grants for the work. We have given proper consideration to the issue of the Southerham pylon and we are aware of the environmental sensitivities locally, as evidenced by the scheme we have developed for the A27 between Southerham and Beddingham. We can only speculate as to what the intentions might have been 30 years ago. The cable diversion route has now formally been made permanent. It does not need a further diversion as part of the current road proposals, or for any operational reasons of the electricity company. To return to the hon. Gentleman's point about the inquiry and the inspector, the inspector cannot review any evidence after the closure of the inquiry, but the debate will be taken into consideration as part of the Secretary of State's decision. In the light of what I have said, and the inquiry, we shall have to wait for Ministers' decisions based on the inspector's recommendations.