HC Deb 22 January 1992 vol 202 cc201-3W
Mr. Madel

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the total amount of money that Bedfordshire county council has raised since 1979 by way of(a) land sales and (b) sale of buildings; of that amount what is the county council allowed to spend; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Key

The capital receipts raised by Bedfordshire from the sale of fixed assets in each year since 1984–85 are as follows. Information is not available for years prior to 1984–85. It is not possible to identify land sales separately from sale of buildings.

At 31 March 1990 Bedfordshire held £3,000 of capital receipts—not only from the sale of fixed assets—of which £1,000 were usable, the remainder being set aside for debt redemption. Of the £5.704 million estimated to have been received since then from the sale of fixed assets, £2.662 million is usable.

Year Receipts from the sale of Fixed Assets £'000
1984–85 2,862
1985–86 6,630
1986–87 5,337
1987–88 4,024
1988–89 4,467
1989–90 12,316
1990–91 1,666
11991–92 4,038
1 estimate

Mr. Madel

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the total amount of money that the four district councils within the county of Bedfordshire have raised since 1979 by(a) sale of council houses and (b) land sales; of that amount how much each authority is currently allowed to spend; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Yeo

The reported total discounted sale values of dwellings, and the value of land sold between April 1979 and September 1991 is as follows. Actual cash receipts from sales of dwellings in any year will depend on the extent to which sales were financed by loans from these authorities. The table also shows the reported amounts of unspent housing capital receipts at 1 April 1991 which were available to spend after making the required provision for debt repayment. In addition authorities can spend 25 per cent. of most housing capital receipts received in 1991–92.

£ million
Total value of sales (after discounts) April 1979 to September 1991 Remaining usable housing receipts April 1991
council houses/and land of which: land
Luton 190 10 11
Mid Bedfordshire 150 .. 5
North Bedfordshire 1105 5 10
South Bedfordshire 170 15 3
.. Less than £5 million.
1 Information missing for certain years or quarters.