Building Land

HC Deb 28 July 1971 vol 822 cc565-6

8. Mr. Evelyn King

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment in his attempts to obtain the release of additional building land, what investigation he has made of the surplus holdings of municipal authorities and nationalised industries; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Graham Page

The decision on whether land is surplus is a matter for the individual local authority or nationalised industry. Local authorities have been asked in Circular 10/70 to re-assess the needs in their areas and their land holdings and to dispose of land for private housing development wherever possible. Since 1966 all the nationalised industries have been offering their surplus land to local authorities.

Mr. King

How much longer will it be before we can be given some firm figure of the additional amount of building land which has been released for that purpose and, above all, a figure—which should follow from that earlier information—of the amount by which the price of building land has been reduced?

Mr. Page

So far as local authorities are concerned, the follow-up to the circular is still being assessed. I hope it will not be long before I can report on the results. On nationalised industries, the figure I have before me is that in 1970 British Railways land sales totalled £14 million. This is encouraging.

Mr. Speaker

Order. I must draw the attention of the House to a phenomenon which does not often happen. It would appear that, perhaps because of the all-night sitting, the electric clock has stopped.

Mr. Freeson

Will the Minister bear in mind the statement made in this House a few weeks ago by his right hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Construction, that he was consulting his colleagues in the Department to investigate the possibility that surplus land held by nationalised industries, in particular by British Railways, could be used by his Department for housing purposes, particularly where a local authority was experiencing difficulties in meeting housing demands? What investigations have been made to establish the availability of land in the major conurbations?

Mr. Page

May I say in parenthesis that I have never before succeeded in stopping the clock! If I may answer the question, the investigations are proceeding in detail with both local authorities and nationalised industries.