ONE WAY to secure a debate in Parliament is to enter your name in the ballot for an adjournment debate.

This I did before the start of recess and was lucky enough to have my name pulled out of the proverbial hat and to be allocated the first such debate of this session.

I asked for a debate on water charges so we could look at the proposals in the interim Walker Report which begs the question of whether the local customers, national customers or taxpayers should fund environmental improvements. The following is an extract from the debate:

Richard Younger-Ross: "I am grateful for the opportunity to bring again to the floor of the House an issue which has been of concern to residents of the South West for a long time indeed, since 1989, when the then Conservative Government privatised the water companies and, in the view of myself, my parliamentary colleagues and most residents of the South West, created a grave injustice, which has to this day led to the South West paying more for its water and sewerage than any other part of the country.

"In asking Anna Walker to present a report on water charges, the Government has created a useful vehicle for debating not only the issue on which I want to concentrate, but a lot of the other issues of water poverty and water shortage.

"Anna Walker highlights the question of who should pay for environmental improvements from which all customers benefit."

Anna Walker writes: "The arguments as to whether environmental improvements should be paid for by the local water customer, the national water customer or the taxpayer are complex.

"The review team would welcome views on the arguments it has set out in the interim report before reaching a firm conclusion in the final report.

"There are real choices to be made over the standards to be met, how future environmental improvements are achieved and the period over which they should be carried out, all of which can affect the costs radically and which are particularly important if the water customer locally or nationally is expected to pay for them."

Richard Younger-Ross: "Why does the South West have such particular problems?

"The region has 3,429 square kilometres of environmentally sensitive countryside.

"Some 40 per cent of its land receives special protection for its outstanding quality, compared with the figure of 23 per cent for England overall.

"The region has 2,100 kilometres of coastline, more than any other region and 25 per cent of England's total coast.

"There are 507 kilometres of heritage coast, 59 per cent of England's total.

"The region has 144 European Community-designated bathing waters, 33 per cent of the total for England and Wales.

"Only some three per cent of the population live in the South West Water area, so, as we keep repeating, three per cent of the population are paying to clean up 33 per cent of the nation's bathing waters.

"There are 22 designated shellfish waters, representing 21 per cent of England's total, and the seas off the South West of England support half of the UK's wildlife."

Andrew George (St Ives) (LD): "Given that the Anna Walker inquiry has clearly indicated there should be an option of spreading the cost nationally, does my Hon Friend agree it should be an option of spreading the cost nationally? Does my Hon Friend agree it should also be spread retrospectively, so that it related to past as well as future investment?"

Richard Younger-Ross: "That is a good point. The South West has already paid for the bulk of its Clean Sweep programme, although it is still paying the interest costs.

"I hope if the inquiry and the Government decided on spreading the costs fairly across the country, they would indeed be retrospective.

"People in the south west are paying £497, which is expected to rise to £517 by 2015. Thames Water has the lowest figure: £286 and that was going to rise only to £343.

"A month after the Walker report came out… Ofwat has stepped in, but it has compounded the injustices.

"Table B of its document 'Comparisons between companies' final business plan proposals and Ofwat Draft Determinations' shows the figure for the South West, which was proposed to be £517 in 2015, will be only £458, which is a difference of minus 11 per cent.

"People in other regions, such as the Hartlepool Water region, will have a difference of 14 per cent, but they pay less than those in the South West at the moment.

"Thames Water customers will pay 15 per cent less than proposed, and they pay the lowest amount at the moment.

"Southern and Severn Trent are down 12 per cent. That does not deal with the fundamental injustice."

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Huw Irranca-Davies): "I genuinely congratulate the Hon Gentleman on both securing the debate and summarising the salient points pertaining to a crucial issue for his constituents and those of some of my Hon Friends, who have campaigned on this issue for years and years.

"It would ill become me to dwell on the iniquities of previous Governments who took through privatisation and made errors.

"We are trying to consider how we can resolve the situation… I do not want to pre-empt Anna Walker's final recommendation on the so-called 'equalisation' of environmental investment, but she has identified several practical issues around equalisation in the interim report.

"In particular, if Anna recommends an equalisation scheme, she will need to decide what counts as an environmental improvement with a public benefit.

"Indeed, as the Hon Gentleman says, Ofwat has not addressed the inequalities, which is what Anna is wrestling with as we speak.

"She is trying to finalise her comments on sharing the environmental costs, meaning equalising the costs across a wider customer base beyond the region, which has not been done before.

"Ofwat has acted to keep bills down on this occasion, in its interim findings on the periodic review 2009 process — we await the final determination — but it has not looked at equalisation. Anna is looking at whether she can address those issues.

"I know that my Right Hon Friend the Prime Minister has pledged to meet a delegation led by my Hon Friend the Member for Plymouth, Sutton to discuss the Walker Review.

"I am sure other Hon Members who have attended this debate will also be there.

"I would, of course, be happy to have an additional meeting with the Hon Member for Teignbridge, my Hon Friend and other Hon Members with constituencies in the South West to discuss the review's final report once it has been published."

In total, there were four interventions in my speech: three from Lib Dems (Adrian Sanders; Andrew George and Colin Breed) and one from Labour (Linda Gilroy). There were no Tories there.

It was a good debate which has moved the argument forward.

We will have to see where it goes.

The whole debate can be found at http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id>2009-10-12a.135.0&s>richard+younger-ross#g138.0