HC Deb 02 July 1957 vol 572 cc883-5
43. Mrs. L. Jeger

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government whether, in view of his Department's last annual report, he will revise planning consents given for office building in central London and refuse further applications for development which will increase the number of people travelling to work in this area.

Mr. H. Brooke

Great efforts are being made, I understand, by the London County Council, as local planning authority, to restrict new office development in central London, but it would not be reasonable to refuse consent in every case; nor would it be generally practicable to withdraw consents already given, which in any case would give rise to compensation.

Mrs. Jeger

Is the Minister aware of reports that, if all the consents already given are taken up, the office population in Central London will be doubled, and how does he propose to cope with the rush-hour problem? Is it not bad enough already?

Mr. Brooke

We are now encroaching on the next Question. In my view, the spread of offices in London should be checked by the restrictions which were placed upon the granting of permission by my predecessor's modifications of the development plan, and I have every reason to believe that the London County Council is greatly concerned about the matter and is seeing what it can do, for its part, as planning authority.

Mr. Ernest Davies

Can the Minister assure us that parking space is provided where permission is given for the building of these offices in Central London, either in basements or in off-street parking?

Mr. Brooke

Yes, that is the policy of the planning authority.

44. Mrs. L. Jeger

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government to state the amount in square feet of new office building in central London since the war, the amount in process of building and the amount for which consents have been given; and how the final total figure of office accommodation will compare with that available before the war.

Mr. H. Brooke

In the area which was surveyed recently by the London County Council together with the City Corporation, about 8,300,000 sq. ft. of new office floor space was constructed between 1948 and 1955. At the end of 1955, 9,900,000 sq. ft. was in course of erection, most of which has since been completed, and permissions were outstanding for the construction of 17,400,000 sq. ft. of additional office space. I regret that it is not possible to compare the new office accommodation for which permission has been given with the accommodation available in the area before the war, because the records are incomplete.

Mrs. Jeger

Is not the prospect of another 17 million square feet of office building in the centre of London really a formidable one and has the Minister no powers of review which would enable him to look again at this question? Surely, if the matter goes on unchecked, we shall have an impossible position in the centre of London. Is the right hon. Gentleman aware also of the large number of vacancies in office blocks already completed, which seems to suggest that there has been overbuilding?

Mr. Brooke

If there are vacancies in office blocks which have recently been built, I think that is the likeliest thing to bring additional building to an end. I assure the hon. Lady that the figures which I quoted referred to a date eighteen months ago. She is asking me, I think, to interfere further with the London County Council, which the right hon. Member for Lewisham, South (Mr. H. Morrison) does not want me to do. I am, in fact, in close and friendly touch with the London County Council about this matter.

Mr. Peyton

Will my right hon. Friend bear in mind, when considering this question, that London is a very great commercial centre, that there is a perfectly reasonable and proper demand for modern office accommodation and that these requests to restrict accommodation come very strangely from the party opposite, who seem so often to be concerned about the conditions of office workers?

Mr. Mitchison

In view of the almost insuperable difficulties of the housing situation in Inner London, does not the right hon. Gentleman think that he ought to reconsider his policy about office accommodation and that he ought also to reconsider his failure to add any new towns to those already in existence?

Mr. Brooke

No. Replying to the question about offices, my predecessor, the present Minister of Defence, modified the London County Council development plan in the direction which the hon. and learned Member apparently would approve. I noted the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Yeovil (Mr. Peyton). I should like to say to all concerned that I am watching this position extremely carefully and that I want to try to find a solution with the good will of all concerned.