§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how much was paid out in Derelict Land Grant in each of the five years prior to its abolition; how many sites benefited: and if he will reinstate the grant as an instrument for bringing brownfield sites back into productive use. [143920]
§ Ms Beverley HughesThe Derelict Land Grant (DLG) scheme ceased to operate from 1994. The outturn for the years 1989–90 to 1993–94 is as follows:
£million 1989–90 54.0 1990–91 61.7 1991–92 77.2 1992–93 101.7 1993–94 104.3 Details of individual sites supported by DLG were not recorded centrally, and the information requested on sites is therefore not available.
Since the closure of DLG, support for the reclamation of derelict land continues through funding from the current physical land regeneration schemes within the Land and Property Programme. These include the Land and Property Programme, Direct Development, the former Partnership Investment Programme, Community Investment Fund, Land Stabilisation Programme and the Land Reclamation Programme (LRP).
Like the DLG, the LRP scheme provides funding to local authorities to enable them to reclaim derelict land for environmental improvement, especially where there is no incentive for the private sector to undertake the task, or no developer has yet been identified.
Given that the purposes of the DLG are now fulfilled by other schemes, the Government have no plans to reintroduce it.