HC Deb 13 July 1999 vol 335 cc154-5
8. Ms Margaret Moran (Luton, South)

If he will make a statement on progress towards meeting the 60 per cent. target for housing on recycled land in the south-east. [89482]

The Minister for London and Construction (Mr. Nick Raynsford)

During the period 1990–94, an average of 51 per cent. of new dwellings in the south-east were built on previously developed land. Serplan has proposed in the draft regional planning guidance for the south-east to achieve a target of 60 per cent. of new development on previously used urban land, over the period of the plan, which is 1996–2016. The public examinations panel will provide advice to the Secretary of State on this matter in its report, which is due in September this year.

Ms Moran

Does my hon. Friend agree that an important element in the solution to meeting the target is to bring empty and under-utilised homes back into use? For example, there are about 13,000 empty homes in Luton, of which only 150 belong to the public sector. Will my hon. Friend and his colleagues look at financial mechanisms—such as the VAT regime and loans to owner-occupiers—to enable owners to refurbish those empty homes and bring them fully back into use?

Mr. Raynsford

My hon. Friend is right to highlight the problem of empty properties. At present, there are about 753,000 vacant dwellings, across all tenures, in the country. That represents 3.6 per cent. of the housing stock. We aim to reduce that figure to 3 per cent. by 2005, which will then be one of the lowest levels in Europe.

We are taking a number of measures to reduce the total of empty properties. Action is encouraged through PPG3, the relevant planning guidance. Properties empty for more than a year are currently exempt from council tax, but that exemption will be withdrawn from April next year as an incentive for owners to bring properties back into use. These and other measures will be pursued by the Government to make better use of existing resources, and so help to achieve the target of 60 per cent. of housing on brown-field sites or in existing developed areas.

Mr. Nicholas Soames (Mid-Sussex)

If, when the examination is complete, the figures show that there is sufficient brown-field land, will the Minister see what he can do to reduce the obligation placed on West Sussex county council by the Deputy Prime Minister? That obligation is to build an extra 15,000 homes over and above the already excessive number that the council is required to build. If some of the extra load is reduced, not only will rural West Sussex be protected, but the awful overstrain on our infrastructure will, to some extent, be mitigated.

Mr. Raynsford

The hon. Gentleman will know that West Sussex has several times challenged my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State in the courts. He will also know that it lost. The Government have set out new targets to increase the proportion of development on brown-field sites. We await the report on the public examination of the Serplan figures, and I cannot comment further until we receive it. Our keen objective is to maximise development on brown-field sites because that is in everyone's interest.

Mr. Nigel Waterson (Eastbourne)

Did not Lord Rogers's task force conclude that there was no prospect of the Government hitting their national target of 60 per cent. under existing policies? Is the position not even worse in the south-east? Is it not likely that many thousands of new developments will occur on green-field and green-belt sites in the south-east? Why have the Government so far accepted only one of the 105 recommendations made by their own task force, and that only as a pilot?

Mr. Raynsford

The hon. Gentleman cannot have read Lord Rogers's report very carefully as it concludes that, under existing policies, the best estimate is that 55 per cent. of development would be achieved on brown-field sites, but that with changes in policy, including many of the new policies that the Government are introducing, it would be possible to achieve a higher percentage, as we intend. Only two weeks after the report's publication, we have already accepted one recommendation. The report contains 105, and we shall give them the consideration that they deserve before we make a judgment on them.