HC Deb 08 July 1981 vol 8 cc160-1W
29. Mr. Farr

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will advise housing authorities that they should not seek to acquire additional rural land for housing schemes when extensive areas of derelict or semi-derelict land are available within a city boundary.

Mr. Giles Shaw

My policy is to encourage unused and underused land to be brought back into productive use, and our initiatives of the urban programmes and land registers, coupled with the derelict land grant scheme, are being directed to this end. But not all new development needs can be met by such land and the development of some rural sites will still be necessary, particularly for new housing.