Mr Bill Wiggin (Leominster, Conservative)

I am grateful to the Minister for his reply. I agree that the Environment Agency would be the agency or specialist to which the Secretary of State would delegate the power to take the decision. That is how things should proceed and we debated it in earlier parts of the Bill. The new clause aims to provide a short cut so that the Environment Agency automatically acts on behalf of the Secretary of State. Instead of its being an automatic action on behalf of the Secretary of State, the Secretary of State is not mentioned at all in the clause as it stands.

A person who finds that his house is polluting and causing damage to the environment and is told that it

must be connected to the sewer may not wish that to happen. He will appeal to the Environment Agency, whose mandate is to put the environment above all else and so he will lose. He will receive a large bill and will complain to his MP and ask him to appeal to the Secretary of State. Normally that is what would happen. The Government are being a little sharp in seeking to cut these corners. That is what my amendment seeks to rectify.

The reality is exactly as the Minister describes. The Environment Agency will recommend to the Secretary of State that the sewer be connected. The net result will be the same. It is the process that is important. The Minister will recognise from his many years of experience that people expect the process to take all the customary steps. While I recognise what is going on in the Bill, my new clause seeks to do the opposite of streamlining the process. People who are in this position, either as a polluter or as someone who wishes to be connected to a sewer because of environmental damage that might be taking place against his wishes, should be able to appeal to the Secretary of State. That is all that the new clause seeks to ensure.

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