Derelict Land (Hansard, 4 December 1985)

§ 7. Mr. Thurnham
asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many acres of derelict land owned by public bodies were sold during the last 12 months.

§ Mr. John Patten
In the 12 months ended 31 October 1985, 6,300 acres of unused or underused land on the land registers have been sold. A further 3,500 acres have been removed from the registers because their owners have brought them back into use.

§ Mr. Thurnham
I welcome pressure on councils to dispose of surplus derelict land, but may I ask my hon. Friend to assure the House that he does not expect councils willy-nilly to sell off public parks and open spaces, such as the amenity land in front of Eagley Bank infants school in my constituency?

§ Mr. Patten
As it happens, I can reply to my hon. Friend with some degree of authority, for I have recently visited Bolton twice in his company. The issue to which he refers is twofold. First, there is a piece of vacant land, which has been vacant and unused for a long time, which needs to be disposed of. Secondly, the problems of the after-use of that land can be dealth with by the borough council through the normal planning process. It is the borough council's task and responsibility.

§ Mr. Tony Banks
How much derelict land is owned by Government Departments? What pressure does the Minister put on his colleagues to dispose of surplus Government land? In particular, what pressure does he put on the Secretary of State for Defence to dispose of derelict land that is surplus to requirements?

§ Mr. Patten
It is certainly true that Governemnt Departments own derelict land. I am not able to give the exact figure as I do not have it to hand, but I shall write and let the hon. Gentleman know the result. Just as Government Departments have surplus land —and we are making major efforts to get them to dispose of it as quickly as possible —so, too, besides local councils, do nationalised industries, and they need to get rid of it. My hon. Friend the Member for Ealing, Acton (Sir G. Young), who is to lead our disposal drive in 1986, will be after the nationalised industries.

§ Mr. David Howell
My hon. Friend is absolutely right about nationalised industries hanging on to unnecessary land. A great deal has been done to squeeze out surplus land from public authorities and utilities, but a good deal of land that nationalised industries call operational is sometimes not operational at all. Will my hon. Friend assure us that he and his colleagues will press other Departments and public utilities to get this surplus land, which is often derelict, back into housing or green and leisure facilities?

§ Mr. Patten
My right hon. Friend is, of course, absolutely right. Large public bodies, such as British Rail, or, for that matter, water authorities, sometimes own substantial amounts of land, which they should dispose of for re-use. We hear a great deal about the need for more investment in sewers. If water authorities got rid of more of their unused land, they could invest the proceeds in capital infrastructure.

§ Dr. David Clark
The Minister mentioned that he was going to encourage water authorities to sell off unused land. On much of that land there is access for walkers. Will the Minister give the assurance that, de facto, not de jure, access will be enshrined in any deals to sell off such land?

§ Mr. Patten
We recognise the important amenity value of land which is held by water authorities and of the water itself, which provides important amenities. Water authorities will be looking carefully at their legal duties to preserve access where that is appropriate.

§ Mr. Robert Atkins
How much derelict land is there in inner city areas controlled by the Labour party? In view of the comments about inner cities made recently by those in another place and elsewhere, is my hon. Friend aware that about six members of the commission are also members of the Labour party? Is there any correlation between those two facts?

§ Mr. Patten
I was aware of some of the facts to which my hon. Friend has referred. When I visit councils which complain about their housing —understandably —such as Hull, which has been under Labour party control for 38 of the last 40 years, and look at the land register, I find it hard to understand why they have just under 1,000 acres of unused, unsold land.