§ 5. Mr. Geoffrey Cooperasked the Minister of Town and Country Planning on what grounds it has been decided that district heating schemes shall not be proceeded with in the new towns.
§ Mr. DaltonBecause, in the one new town where this was contemplated, I was satisfied that it would not pay.
§ Mr. G. CooperCan my right hon. Friend say if consideration has been given by the New Towns Development Corporation to district heating from rubbish destructory plants, as well as by the waste heat from electric power generating stations?
§ Mr. DaltonThat is a wider question. I went into this particular case very carefully, and I was satisfied that the density of building was not such as to give any probability of the scheme covering its cost, and, for that reason, I turned it down.
§ Mr. GibsonWill the Minister, in general, be sympathetic to this kind of proposal, in view of its very great economic importance, and in view of the fact that in other countries, and particularly in Paris, they have made a success of it?
§ Mr. DaltonI would be sympathetic to it if I thought it would be an economic proposition. In some parts it would be; in others it would not. It might well be in London, where there is a density of population, and tall blocks of flats and so on, but that is not so in a relatively dispersed development.