HC Deb 08 February 1978 vol 943 cc1432-3
3. Mr. MacKay

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what estimate he has of the extent of derelict and unused land in Birmingham.

Mr. Freeson

The West Midlands County Council estimates that there are 1,920 acres of derelict and waste land in Birmingham.

Mr. MacKay

Will the right hon. Gentleman join with me in congratulating the Conservative-controlled Birmingham City Council on selling derelict land to local builders on which to construct much-needed houses for first-time buyers? Does he agree that the development land tax, which he so frequently supports in this House, is actually doing a great deal of damage because it means that private developers and owners are not allowing derelict land to come on to the market, and that therefore these vast acreages in cities such as Birmingham are remaining derelict?

Mr. Freeson

I think two factors are being mixed up here. On the provision of down-market owner-occupation on local authority housing land, Birmingham is dealing with a different category of land from the 1,920 acres which is derelict and waste land and is not land bought under the Housing Acts. It is not land which Birmingham is redirecting from one aspect of housing activity to another.

As for the development land tax, we have not received evidence from Birmingham or anywhere else that development of this kind of derelict and waste land, particularly the commercial and industrial land about which the hon. Member appears to be thinking, is being held back because of the impact of DLT.

Mr. Sever

Will my right hon. Friend accept that the amount of waste and derelict land in the inner areas of Birmingham would be considerably reduced very quickly if the Conservative-controlled district and county councils took steps immediately to do something about it?

Mr. Freeson

Certainly that is the main intention behind the correspondence mentioned by my right hon. Friend earlier. In the context of the partnership authorities and the programme authorities concerned with inner city policy—of which Birmingham is one—we certainly intend to get land management moved to the centre of the inner city programmes which are to be developed and implemented from next year.

Mr. Rossi

Is the Minister aware that many nationalised industries refuse to dispose of their excess land because of the incidence of development land tax upon them? Is he further aware that until that problem is solved his survey will produce very few effective and useful results?

Mr. Freeson

We must wait and see. I accept that this point has been put by some of the nationalised industries. I have discussed the matter with representatives of British Rail and there is a certain amount of probing into that aspect. The tax is not proving, as was originally suggested, a disincentive. There may be ways round the kind of problems being put forward by British Rail and others in this respect.