§ 2.36 p.m.
§ LORD ELTONMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the first Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the recent admission by the Standing Conference on London and the South East Regional Planning—that, in the light of the 1961 Census, many of the assumptions on which national planning in the regions has hitherto been based have proved to be wholly erroneous—has altered the attitude of the Government to such local plans as that to expand the population of Banbury to 80,000.]
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT (LORD KENNET)My Lords, the Report to which the noble Lord refers is devoted mainly to an analysis of data from the 1961 Census on employment and migration. It suggests that if this data had been available earlier the conclusions of the South-East Study might have been different, but makes no specific suggestions. The Study was reviewed by the present Government in 1965, by which time much of the information mentioned in the Standing Conference Report was either available or known in broad outline. The Report does not alter the Government's view about the size of the London overspill problem and the scale of the New Town and town expansion programme which is needed. A decision about the expansion of Banbury is a matter for the borough council. They know that the Minister would like the expansion to go ahead.
§ LORD ELTONMy Lords, may I thank the noble Lord for that Answer?