§ Sir W. Smithersasked the Minister of Town and Country Planning if he will give the following information with regard to each of the satellite towns planned in the Stevenage and Crawley areas, respectively; the total area in acres which will be covered; the acreage of freehold property now held by private residents; the acreage of freehold property leased to private residents; the acreage of property owned by Government or local authority; and why, in the case of Stevenage, only objections were admitted at the inquiry and consideration of both sides of the matter were not heard.
§ Mr. SilkinI regret that the information for which the hon. Member asks in the first part of his Question is not available in the form requested. The following information can, however, be given in respect of the proposed new town at Stevenage. The acreage to be used for general building purposes, which will include local open spaces and roads, is likely to be in the neighbourhood of 4,300 acres out of a total for the designation area of 6,140 acres. No separate figures relating to property held by private residents can be given, but the 6,140 acres is made up approximately as follows:
Acres. Area of owner-occupied property 2,220 Area of property not occupied by owners 3,700 Area of property owned by Government or Local Authority 240 In respect of the proposed new town at Crawley, it is only possible at this stage to say that the area within the boundary shown on the map accompanying the Draft Crawley New Town (Designation) Order is approximately 6,200 acres.
In reply to the last part of the Question, I would refer the hon. Member to my reply of 19th November to the hon. Member for Oswestry (Mr. Poole), which explained the purpose and procedure of 182W public local inquiries in connection with draft designation orders under the New Towns Act, 1946.