§ Miss Quennellasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what guidance or advice his Department has offered local authorities on the procedure that should be adopted when land or holdings surplus to their requirements are to be sold; and what procedure he has advised them to adopt.
§ Mr. Graham PageMinistry of Housing and Local Government circular 57/66 advises local authorities to check, before offering surplus land on the open market, whether any other local authority with jurisdiction in the area wants the land and to consider any approach from a former owner who wishes to repurchase. If the land is not sold to a local authority or the former owner, Government Departments and, where appropriate, nationalised industries and port authorities are notified about it. If these arrangements do not result in a sale the authority is free to sell the land elsewhere.
In the case of housing land, Department of the Environment circular 10/70 urged local authorities to sell for private housing development land which is surplus to their own foreseeable housing needs.