§ 23. Mr. Norman Fowlerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will make a statement on his policy concerning the preservation of green belt land.
§ Mr. CroslandThe preservation of green belt land is an important aspect of the Government's determination to protect and improve the environment. I shall support the policy of maintaining green belts and will consider sympathetically proposals for their extension.
§ Mr. FowlerI thank the right hon. Gentleman for that reply. Will he confirm that the Government's policy is that it is better to develop derelict land for housing than to use fresh green belt? If that is so, will he recognise that there is no case for allowing Birmingham to sprawl further into the green belt when it has now been found that 7,500 acres of derelict land exist in the West Midlands?
§ Mr. CroslandI read with great interest the hon. Gentleman's speech in the Adjournment debate on 12th March. I am aware of his views on this matter. I understand that the proposals to which he has referred will come to me for decision, and I shall try to take a view on them by the early summer.
§ Mr. BlenkinsopWould my right hon. Friend agree, however, that there are methods other than green belt by which to achieve the same aim of preserving open space?
§ Mr. CroslandYes, I would agree, but so far those other methods do not command universal assent and are not part of the policy of the present Government any more than they were of the previous Government. Until we have an alternative strategy for saving the countryside, we should stick to the one that we have.
§ Mr. Michael LathamDoes the Secretary of State accept the policy of his predecessor that 2,000 acres of what one might call "scruffy" metropolitan green belt should be released as quickly as possible?
§ Mr. CroslandI said in reply to a Question asked a few days ago by the 1255 hon. Member for Hemel Hempstead (Mr. Allason) that I should take a view on that question when I had detailed proposals from the standing joint conference.