§ 22. Mr. Lathamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will make a statement on his proposals for speeding up the release of land for building.
§ Mr. KingA number of proposals to streamline the planning system and encourage the release of land for development will be set out in our Local Government, Planning and Land Bill.
§ Mr. LathamAs it is difficult, in structure planning, to reconcile the need for an adequate amount of land for the house building programme with the need to conserve good agricultural land, is it not all the more important to see that surplus public sector land is released and that inner-city improvement area schemes go ahead as soon as possible?
§ Mr. KingMy hon. Friend will be aware that we have a proposal to encourage the bringing on to the market of under-used publicly-owned land in urban areas. We hope that that will help to meet the important need of land availability for house building.