I congratulate my hon. Friend on raising this important issue on the Adjournment. He is, as always, a tireless champion of the interests of his constituents and has, as ever, made his points extremely well, concisely, comprehensively and with considerable clarity. I will do my best to respond to his concerns and to the concerns of his constituents.

Waste is an inevitable product of our society, and how we dispose of it reflects on the quality of society. We may try to minimise the amount of waste that we produce and recycle as much as possible, but a substantial proportion will still remain, and we cannot avoid providing the necessary facilities properly to dispose of it. That applies just as much to clinical waste as to other types of waste. The issue which my hon. Friend has correctly identified is not therefore whether but how and where we should provide disposal facilities. I should like to deal with the "how" before coming on to consider the "where".

The majority of waste in this country is landfilled, and this remains an option for a good deal of clinical waste. However, certain types of clinical waste are not suitable for landfill, and it is not always practicable to separate such wastes from other clinical wastes. It has become normal practice to incinerate all clinical waste from hospitals—frequently on site in one of around 600 hospital incinerators. Most of these are fairly small, and many will have difficulty meeting the new European Community arid Environmental Protection Act 1990 standards when they lose Crown exemption in April. Both the private sector and waste disposal authorities are, therefore, taking a greater interest in the provision of larger centralised facilities to serve a number of hospitals, and incorporating advanced incinerator techniques and standards.

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with incineration as a method of waste disposal, provided that operating conditions and flue gas emissions are strictly controlled. Indeed, in many countries incineration is considered more environmentally acceptable than landfill for all types of waste, and is the predominant method of waste disposal.

It is clear that the public here are less favourably disposed towards incineration. They are understandably concerned about such things as possible emissions of dioxins and other pollutants. I am, therefore, glad to have the opportunity of reassuring my hon. Friend and his constituents that the new controls which we have introduced will set the highest and most rigorous standards for the incineration of all types of waste, and will ensure that incinerators—wherever they are located —present no danger to public health or the environment.

In future, the main controls will be applied through the provisions of part I of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. This applies a new system of integrated pollution control to all incinerators with a capacity of more than one tonne an hour and will come into effect from 1 April this year. Operators of such incinerators will be required to apply to Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution for authorisation before the plant can commence operations, or whenever a substantial change is proposed. Those authorisations will specify the conditions under which plants must operate, including combustion conditions and appropriate techniques for controlling releases to air, water, or land. This integrated approach will ensure that all the environmental effects of a process are considered together. Operators will be required to use the best available techniques not entailing excessive costs to prevent and minimise toxic emissions, and to render harmless those emissions which cannot be prevented. The inspectorate is producing a series of guidance notes on best available techniques not entailing excessive costs, setting out the minimum standards that it expects plants to adopt, and these standards will be reviewed at least every four years.

I can assure my hon. Friend that the standards imposed under those arrangements will be extremely rigorous indeed and will in some cases go beyond the requirements of the new European Community directives on incinerator emissions. Dioxins—which are produced from the uncontrolled burning of plastic materials and which are perhaps the greatest concern—will have to be reduced to below the level at which they can be effectively measured. The Department of the Environment's pollution paper No. 27, "Dioxins in the Environment", published in 1989, pointed out that in well-managed incinerators emissions of dioxins were reduced to negligible levels—in fact, far below the background level in the atmosphere as a result of wood burning, car exhausts and so forth.

However, I fully appreciate that the imposition of high standards does not mean that we can ignore the siting of incinerators. No one wants an industrial plant sited near him, whatever its purpose. That is where the planning system comes in and, of course, no incinerator project can go ahead without planning permission.

Greater Manchester waste disposal authority's proposal for a clinical waste incinerator at Altrincham has gone through that process, and Trafford borough council has, as my hon. Friend mentioned, recently given planning permission for it to go ahead. Therefore, there is no locus for the Secretary of State to be involved. Planning permission has been granted and that is where the matter stands. I do not think that it would be appropriate for me to comment on that. Nevertheless, I understand that the proposed incinerator will have a capacity of more than 1 tonne per hour, so it follows that it will require authorisation from HMIP under the integrated pollution control arrangements before it can start operation.

To deal with individual planning applications for such facilities does present problems for local authorities, if they cannot be set into an overall strategy for dealing with waste in the area. That is why the Control of Pollution Act 1974 requires waste disposal authorities to draw up waste disposal plans to consider the amounts and types of waste arising in the area and the ways in which they will be disposed of. This enables authorities to assess the need for new facilities and the type of provision that should be made. Those powers have been strengthened under the Environmental Protection Act. However, the actual siting of facilities needs also to be considered in a planning framework. People will have more confidence that the right decisions have been taken if they can see that the options have been thoroughly investigated and the views of all the different interests have been fully taken into account.

We are making provision for that planning framework to be put in place. Only yesterday we moved amendments to the Planning and Compensation Bill in another place to require county councils in England, and district councils in Wales, to draw up planning policies for waste management and disposal. Those new waste local plans will set out authorities' detailed land use policies for the disposal and treatment of waste within the broad strategic framework provided by the county structure plan. They will ensure that planning authorities consider the land use implications of their waste policies from a strategic point of view rather than deciding applications in isolation. This will help authorites in deciding planning applications for new waste disposal facilities. And when applications go to appeal, or are called in by the Secretary of State, then the plans will provide better guidelines for the inspector. I believe that this will be of real benefit to the waste disposal industry. The planning process will be speeded up, and the industry will have guidance on the type and location of waste facilities that are likely to be acceptable in planning terms.

The new development plans will consider the need for sites and facilities in particular areas and the types of locations that are likely to be appropriate, as well as the planning criteria that would be expected to apply to such developments. Obviously the new waste disposal development plans will need to be consistent with the plans which authorities are already required to draw up under the Control of Pollution Act and Environmental Protection Act. We consulted interested parties on our proposals for waste development plans during the autumn, and I am pleased to say that there was a general welcome for them, both from the relevant planning authorities, and from the waste disposal industry.

My hon. Friend sensibly also suggested that there is a need for planning policy guidance on waste disposal facilities. We accept that there is a need for such guidance; and we made clear in the environment White Paper our intention to prepare new guidance on planning, pollution control and waste management. One of the issues that we shall certainly consider in the new guidance is the role of the new waste development plans and their relationship to pollution control in the light of the provisions of the Environmental Protection Act.

Work has started on the drafting of the planning policy guidance within my Department and our intention is to publish a draft for public consultation later this year. We shall want to hear the views of all interested parties before preparing a final version of the guidance note.

I hope that I have managed to cover both the hows and wheres of waste incineration, and clinical waste incineration in particular. I hope that I have made clear to my hon. Friend that there is no scope for my Department to be involved in this matter, planning permission having been granted. Given the nature of the incinerator, however, the operators will be required to apply to HMIP for authorisation before the plant can commence operations. This authorisation will specify the conditions in which the plant must operate, including a host of conditions relating to appropriate techniques for controlling releases into the air, and so on. HMIP will want to consult on that. There is no reason why my hon. Friend should not approach HMIP to ensure that it is aware of his concerns and that those of his constituents are made clear.

I hope that I have also explained that there will be rapid changes in the legislative controls applied to waste management in the next few years. I hope that those changes will lead people to accept that incineration is a safe and viable option for waste disposal, and that the planning process will ensure that decisions are taken on a sensible strategic basis.

Question put and agreed to.

Adjourned accordingly at ten minutes to Two o'clock.