§ Mr. Barry JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to meet the chairman of British Rail to discuss British Rail's plans to sell redundant and little-used railway track.
§ Mr. FreemanThe Secretary of State and I meet the chairman of British Rail regularly to discuss various matters. The board's objectives require it to divest itself of all underused or surplus land and property as rapidly as possible, at a proper commercial price.
The procedure currently followed by BR for the disposal of disused trackbed is as follows:
- (i) Discussions with the various BR businesses to establish that the land is no longer required for operational purposes and that no future operational use has been identified by them. The land is then handed over to the British Rail Property Board (BRPB) for disposal.
- (ii) Notification by BRPB to local authorities that it intends to sell the land so that they can approach the board with their requirement to purchase at the earliest possible date.
- (iii) If there is no approach from the local authority, BRPB notifies statutory undertakers, MOD, British Coal and the Department to see if there are any objections to the sale.
- (iv) If there are no objections, BRPB proceeds with the sale.