asked the Minister of Land and Natural Resources what estimate he has made of the cost of a hydrographic survey of The Wash area with gravity-coring of the seabed, current gauging and seismic investigations with tests of samples, prior to a feasibility study of a possible barrage; and what length of time would be involved.

This work would form an integral part of a feasibility study of a Wash Barrage and it would be wrong to embark on it except as part of a comprehensive investigation. The report on the Water Resources of the Great Ouse Basin suggested a five-year programme of investigations which, with the preparation of designs and estimates, would cost about £1,500,000. The items listed by my hon. Friend, together with other related soil investigations, including boreholes, would account for about two-thirds of the sum and would take between two and three years to carry out.