§ Mr. DevlinTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what factors will be considered in deciding the future of county hall; and when the matter falls to be determined.
§ Mr. Howard[pursuant to his reply, 24 June 1992, c. 197]: I have today written to the chairman of the London residuary body withdrawing the direction that I issued to that body on 22 July, prohibiting it from taking any steps in relation to the sale or disposal of county hall without first obtaining my consent.
That direction was issued for the purpose of giving the London School of Economics and Political Science the opportunity of submitting a bid for the county hall site. It was, however, one of the conditions that I agreed with the director of the LSE, before issuing that direction, that any proposal to acquire county hall should be endorsed by the Universities Funding Council as required by the rules that govern universities' property transactions. The Universities Funding Council has written to the LSE today that it did not feel able to endorse its proposal. The Government have therefore concluded that any bid by the LSE for county hall would involve a significant and unacceptable call on public funds.