§ 8. Miss Burtonasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government whether, considering their menace as breeding places for juvenile crime, and as encouragement to youth in this Coronation year, the Government will institute an immediate inquiry into the problem of bomb sites and their clearance and possible adaptation as playgrounds for children living in the congested areas of big cities.
§ Mr. H. MacmillanLocal authorities were given wide powers for this purpose by the War Damaged Sites Act, 1949, and I think that this matter is properly left to them.
§ Miss BurtonIs the Minister aware that there are, I think, 150,000 of these sites not cleared today? Would he not agree that sufficient speed has not been shown, and would he ask the local authorities how quickly they can get on with this matter?
§ Mr. MacmillanThis question and answer will help to achieve that purpose.
§ Mr. ShurmerIs the Minister aware, that, in the City of Birmingham, in the five re-development areas in the centre of the city there are bombed sites which will not be touched for five or 10 years, for re-development? To keep our youth off the streets, surely after all this time something should be done to clear these bombed sites and, perhaps, make little parks of them, or even racing tracks?
§ Mr. MacmillanI should not like anything to go from me in criticism of the City of Birmingham, because the history of Birmingham housing re-development is very fine.