§ Mr. Hordernasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give an estimate of the cost to the Exchequer of allowing the present building allowances 599W given to manufacturing industry to be extended to commercial investment in (a) all inner cities and development areas and (b) inner cities only.
§ Mr. Denzil DaviesThe cost of a 50 per cent. initial allowance for new capital expenditure incurred on the cost of all commercial buildings after 5 April 1979, together with annual writing-down allowances on this expenditure at 4 per cent. is estimated on the basis of the current level of expenditure to be approximately as follows:
All inner city* and assisted areas £ million 1979–80 negligible 1980–81 150 1981–82 300 1982–83 350 Inner city areas only £ million 1979–80 negligible 1980–81 70 1981–82 130 1982–83 150 * The 43 districts designated under the Inner Urban Areas Act 1978. The annual cost would continue to rise until it reached an expected maximum of a little under £600 million after 20 years in the case of all inner city and assisted areas, and over £250 million in the case of expenditure only in inner city areas.