Buncefield

Bob Spink
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether she has made an assessment of the implications of the Major Incident Investigation Board report on Buncefield for land use planning policy.

Mr. Iain Wright
As indicated in the written statement made by Lord McKenzie on 13 November 2008, Official Report, House of Lords, column WS55, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (CLG) will lead Government consideration of the Major Incident Investigation Board report (MIIB), “Recommendations on land use planning and the control of societal risk around major hazard sites”, published on 15 July last year. She will respond substantively on behalf of the Government in due course.

Communities and Local Government (CLG) have appointed consultants to investigate and explain the operation of the legislation controlling the planning application and hazardous substances consent processes, and to consider the scope for rationalisation and possible integration of these regimes. This project will inform the Government's response to the MIIB report, in particular recommendation one, which calls for a cross-government and wide-ranging review of the land use planning system around major hazard sites in Britain.

In undertaking this project, CLG will work closely with the Health and Safety Executive, the devolved administrations, representatives of local authorities, and industry. The research will take six months to complete.