21. Mrs. Butlerasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what reply he has made to the memorandum sent to him by the Town and Country Planning Association outlining the need for the completion of ten or twelve more new towns to be substantially completed by 1980; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. BrookeThe memorandum is concerned mainly with suggestions for securing better progress with town development, and I have let the Association know that I am studying these.
15 It also puts forward the view that ten or twelve more new towns need to be substantially completed by 1980. I do not believe that this is so.
Mrs. ButlerDoes the Minister appreciate that when the authorities in Greater London have completed their present overspill schemes, all the indications are that the size of the problem will still be substantially as large as it was in 1944 when Abercrombie said that the London overspill population was more than I million? In view of this, will the Minister look urgently at the question of London's overspill and formulate plans for dealing with it?
§ Mr. BrookeAs I have told the House, I am extremely anxious to get decisions taken—and the right decisions taken—to solve the overspill problems of the big cities, but this is a Question about a memorandum submitted to me by the Town and Country Planning Association. Quite frankly, I think it has exaggerated the size of the overspill problem. In saying that, I am not for one moment seeking to diminish the importance of overspill. I certainly assure the hon. Member that I want to do everything in my power to see that no important work is held up by delay in reaching decisions about where overspill shall go.