§ Mr. Masonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the visit of his noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State to Yorkshire to survey the dereliction problem on Monday, 15th November, in particular specifying what recommendations he has made to rid the coalmining areas of unsightly colliery spoil-heaps; and what suggestions he has made for employing unemployed ex-coalminers in dereliction clearance and land reclamation.
§ Mr. Graham PageMy noble Friend's tour was undertaken in order to gain at first hand a full understanding of the local problem and of what is being done to tackle it. The Government have made clear, on many occasions, their support for vigorous local authority reclamation programmes in Yorkshire and the other priority areas. Derelict land reclamation schemes are not usually labour-intensive and are undertaken by contractors who engage their own skilled or semi-skilled workers; but there will be no limit on the derelict land reclamation expenditure in any of the priority areas for 1972–73 and this should help to provide more employment.