§ Mr. Cormackasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether, in 147W view of the need for releasing more building land, he will now take steps to review the green belt policy so that more attention is paid to differentiating between good agricultural land in areas of outstanding beauty, and derelict land worked-out and abandoned after industrial use and unsuitable for agricultural or scenic reclamation but capable of development as building land.
§ Mr. Graham PageNo. Green belts are designed, amongst other things, to prevent the outward sprawl of large built-up areas or the coalescence of neighbouring towns. These purposes are served whatever the present state of the land. So although some land in green belts may be derelict or even unsightly it does not follow that it should therefore be released for development.