Community Land Act

HC Deb 23 November 1977 vol 939 cc1506-7

5. Mr. Budgen

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects the Community Land Act to make a profit.

The Under-Secretary of State for the Environment (Mr. Guy Barnett)

We shall probably not get an overall surplus until authorities are disposing of as much land as they are acquiring.

Mr. Budgen

Is it not now clear that there will never be sufficient money to make this legislation work, whatever its merits or demerits? Would it not now be best to attempt to help the hard-pressed construction industry, and especially its 250,000 unemployed workers, by reducing the rate of development land tax so as to encourage private land owners to make voluntary sales of development land?

Mr. Barnett

As I have said on previous occasions, we have little evidence to suggest that there is a shortage of land for development. What we do believe is that the community land scheme must be built upon a secure financial basis, and that is precisely what we are doing. The hon. Gentleman may be interested to know that the first disposals that have taken place have shown a profit.

Mr. Ioan Evans

Will my hon. Friend assure us that the Act will at least prevent land speculators from making huge profits at the expense of the community, as has already happened? Has my hon. Friend seen the recent report that Mr. Horace Cutler, the GLC Tory leader, made £1 million by buying land and selling it to a local authority?

Mr. Barnett

One of the purposes of the Act is to prevent the appalling speculations in land that have taken place in the past, but I remind my hon. Friend that its major purpose is to enable local planning authorities to plan their land for the benefit of the community as a whole.

Mr. Stephen Ross

Will the Minister give us an assurance that he will take note of the recent Civic Trust report that showed that no less an 250,000 acres of urban land are in the ownership of local authorities and other bodies? Does he agree that if that land were released on to the market now it would do a great deal to help the building of new houses? Will he do something to persuade local authorities to get on and do it?

Mr. Barnett

I welcome the report, and I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for bringing it to the attention of the House. We shall study it carefully. I share the hon. Gentleman's obvious concern for good land management by local authorities.

Mr. Rossi

Why will not the Minister take up the invitation that we made to him more than a year ago to ask nationalised industries and local authorities to state what unused land they have in public ownership, and if they have no use for it to put it on the market and let somebody else get on with its proper development and use?

Mr. Barnett

Yet again, the hon. Gentleman asks me to find ways of encouraging local authorities to spend money during a time of financial constraint. We believe that it would be wrong to do that at present. That is not to say that I do not share the concern of Opposition Members about the need for good land management by local authorities. Our evidence is that the Act is encouraging just that.