§ 33. Mr. Patrick Maitlandasked the Secretary of State for Scotland to take steps to ensure greater compactness of layout in local authority housing to minimise the loss of agricultural land.
Commander GalbraithA circular giving guidance to local authorities on this subject was issued by my right hon. Friend's Department in 1951. Since then he has consistently urged local authorities to include in their schemes as large a proportion as possible of flats and terraced houses in order to make the most economical use of building land.
§ Mr. MaitlandWhile thanking my right hon. and gallant Friend for that reply, may I ask him if he is not aware that there is still a great and unnecessary encroachment upon good agricultural land through failure to build on sites already available, which can be built on more compactly, and will he particularly draw the attention of the Minister of Housing and Local Government to a volume called, "Design in Town and Village," published this year by the Stationery Office?
§ Mrs. MannWould the Minister not rather call the attention of the Secretary of State to the Scottish manual "Planning Our New Homes," where it was stated that more than 70 per cent. of the population desire houses and not flats?