§ 2.37 p.m.
§ LORD MOLSONMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the second Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government how much railway land within the Greater London area has been declared by the Railways Board to be redundant; how much of this has been made available to the Greater London Council and how much to London boroughs for housing and at what average price per acre; how much has been made available to local authorities for other public purposes; and how much to private individuals or companies.]
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT (LORD LINDGREN)My Lords, I understand from the British Railways Board that since January 1, 1964, approximately 800 acres of its land in the Greater London area have been declared surplus to railway requirements or likely to become surplus in the foreseeable future. The local authorities have been, or will be, informed of these sites. Of this total, the Board has already sold or agreed to 3 sell, first, 140 acres to the Greater London Council, at £125,000 per acre for 28.2 acres at Marylebone and at an average price of £9,900 per acre for the rest; secondly, 84 acres to London boroughs at an average price of £15,900 per acre. The remainder of the 800 acres are still under negotiation or investigation or are not yet available for release. I understand that the local authorities propose to devote the greater part of the land they are acquiring from the Board to housing and associated purposes. Apart from these 800 acres, the Board has sold to private interests approximately 100 acres, including fully developed sites unsuitable for new development. This land had been declared surplus before 1964 and the sale of most of it had been negotiated before that year.
§ LORD MOLSONMy Lords, I am very much obliged to the noble Lord for what is an unusually full and complete Parliamentary Answer.