§ Mr. Dumpletonasked the Minister of Town and Country Planning whether he has now completed consideration of Professor Abercrombie's Report and proposals for the Greater London Area; and what steps he proposes to take, particularly in regard to the recommendation to set up a single over-riding authority for the whole area.
§ Mr. SilkinMuch progress has been made in the study of Professor Aber- 103W crombie's Report and proposals for the Greater London Area; and I am intending shortly to call a conference of the Authorities concerned in order to discuss with them possible lines of co-ordinated action.
§ Lieut.-Colonel Liptonasked the Minister of Town and Country Planning whether, in deciding the extent to which London is to be rebuilt for residential purposes, the desirability of dispersal for strategic reasons is receiving consideration.
§ Mr. SilkinThe County of London and the Greater London Plan provide for the dispersal from the congested areas of London of about a million people and a proportionate amount of industrial development. This represents a vast undertaking and can only be accomplished over a number of years in accordance with a long-term policy. The purpose of this decentralisation is primarily to provide better living conditions for the population but in so far as it decreases density and disperses the people, it obviously satisfies to some extent "strategic considerations." I do not think it would be practicable, whatever may be the objects of dispersal, to provide for the decentralisation of any substantially larger number.