§ 14. Mr. Ian TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will examine the potential for more housing development on derelict sites in east London.
Mr. WaldgraveYes, Sir. The Department is commissioning and announcing today studies by a consultant into the scope for housing development on five large areas in east London—the Greenwich peninsula, Barking Reach, the Lower Lea valley, the Stratford rail yards and the Beckton gasworks site.
§ Mr. TaylorI thank my hon. Friend for that encouraging information. In the light of that, will he consider increasing penalties on developers who repeatedly appeal on green belt sites, such as in my constituency, so as to encourage them to turn their attention to developing inner-city areas to meet the housing needs of the south-east?
§ Mr. WaldegraveMy hon. Friend is right. On several occasions we have warned that we shall use our powers to award costs against developers who fly in the face of clear planning guidance, and I have no doubt that there will be some examples of that. The sites that we are talking about could conceivably, at a broad guess, contain about 20,000 or 30,000 houses.