Mr. HENRY MLARENasked the President of the Board of Agriculture what use the sites offered in the Forest of Dean for building workmen's cottages hitherto have been put, and what is the estimated annual value of such sites; how many years' purchase of such estimated annual value is asked for such sites; whether the price asked was settled by the Woods and Forests Department on their own initiative or after consultation with the Treasury; has any land been sold to individuals in the Forest of Dean by the department for workmen's houses; and, if so, at how many years' purchase of the estimated annual value?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANThe sites which I recently offered to the rural district councils of East and West Dean for building workmen's cottages, which are, I presume, the sites to which the hon. Member refers, are a part of the open and unenclosed area of the Forest of Dean, and they have hitherto been put to no other use other than the growth of trees. I have not had the annual value estimated, but offered them, subject to Treasury sanction, at what I was advised was their "fee simple" agricultural value. That value was settled on my initiative with the advice of my officers. The offers were made subject to the approval by me of the building schemes of the councils and of the type and number of the houses to be erected. Land in the Forest has, in numerous instances in the past, been sold to individuals without restrictions as to the use to be made of it, and in some cases workmen's cottages have no doubt been erected The price charged for the land so sold was generally much higher than that which I recently asked of the councils, but varied considerably according to the position of the land and other circumstances. The sales are far too numerous to permit of details being given in answer to a question in the House, but the prices do not appear to have been arrived at by estimating the annual value and calculating a certain number of year's purchase on that value.