§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will list the total sums for each county and district council in England for which he has so far granted loan sanction for acquisition of land under the Community 55W Land Act 1975 for the current financial year; what specific acreage has so far been acquired in each local authority; how much of that acreage was acquired for (a) housing, (b) commercial, (c) industrial and (d) other uses; and, where the transaction has been completed, whether he will name the sites in each case and the price paid for the land.
§ Mr. Guy BarnettThe information on loan sanctions issued for each country area is as follows:
£ Tyne & Wear … 473,500 Durham … 335,000 Cumbria 156,000 Cleveland … 96,250 Northumberland … 493,500 Oxford … 230,000 Surrey … 402,000 Kent … 1,966,000 East Sussex … 394,500 Hampshire … 728,000 Isle of Wight … 72,000 Bedfordshire … 775,750 Buckinghamshire … 36,250 Hertfordshire … 321,000 Essex … 153,000 Norfolk … 224,000 Nottinghamshire … 350,750 Northamptonshire … 258,500 Lincolnshire … 36,750 Leicestershire … 759,000 Derbyshire … 101,500 Cheshire … 240,000 Lancashire … 119,000 Greater Manchester … 727,750 Merseyside … 78,500 Hereford & Worcester … 381,000 Warwickshire … 912,500 Staffordshire … 1,337,750 West Midlands … 2,888,000 Avon … 25,000 Devon … 221,000 Somerset … 150,000 Dorset … 673,750 Humberside … 1,221,750 South Yorkshire … 1,185,250 West Yorkshire … 628,000 North Yorkshire … 152,000 Greater London … 3,228,500 The corresponding information on acreages required is as follows:
Acres Tyne & Wear (Industry) … 8.00 Cumbria (Industry) … 53.00 Northumberland(Industry) … 0.50 Northumberland (Housing) … 30.00 Durham (Housing) … 10.20 Greater Manchester (Industry) … 2.76 South Yorkshire (Housing) … 10.36 West Midlands (Housing) … 74.55 Notts (Industry) … 4.95 Lines (Industry) … 18.09 Commercial and other uses … nil To Provide information by districts and by sites, or about prices paid, would in 56W many cases prejudice current or future transactions.
§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he is yet in a position to give details of the proposed expenditure and receipts approved by him under the rolling five-year land acquisition programmes under the Community Land Act 1975 for each of the local authorities listed in the Minister for Housing and Construction's reply to the hon. Member for Melton on 11th October 1976, and for any other local authorities which have submitted programmes since that reply.
§ Mr. Guy BarnettAs announced in the Department's Circular 123/76 of 22nd December 1976, the rolling programme system has been suspended for the time being and borrowing approvals will continue to be issued by means of individual loan sanctions.
§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether, pursuant to the Minister for Housing and Construction's reply to the hon. Member for Melton on 11th October 1976, he is yet in a position to indicate for each county council in England the monetary figure which will be available to it for land acquisition during 1977–78 under the Community Land Act 1975; and, if not, when he expects to announce his decision on this matter.
§ Mr. Guy BarnettI refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave today to his previous question on rolling programmes.
§ Mr. Michael Lathamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the level of receipts for each local authority in England for sales of land acquired since the introduction of the Community Land Act 1975; and which was acquired under the powers contained in that Act.
§ Mr. Guy BarnettInformation on disposal receipts is not yet available.
§ Mr. Rossiasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many acres of land have been acquired by local authorities under the Community Land Act 1975 from its coming into force up to the present date; what is the cost of 57W acquisition of such land; and what administrative costs have been incurred by both central and local government under the Act up to the present date.
§ Mr. Freeson210 acres of community land have so far been acquired at a cost of nearly £2 million. No running tally is kept of administrative costs incurred by central and local government; outturn figures for the full year will be available later.
§ Mr. Rossiasked the Secretary of State for the Environment, including administrative costs and accumulating interest charges, what is the comparative cost per acre for acquisition and the price required to be obtained per acre on disposal in order to enable local authorities to show a profit on their community land accounts.
§ Mr. FreesonThe situation will vary with the circumstances, and I am unable to provide a general set of figures.
§ Mr. Rossiasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many applications have been made by local authorities for acquisition of land under the Community Land Act since its coming into force; and how many have been refused.
§ Mr. Freeson532 applications have been received, of which 289 have been refused.
§ Mr. Arthur Jonesasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the estimated cost of local authorities staff's time in work involved on the Community Land Act in England during 1976–77, 1977–78 and 1978–79.
§ Mr. FreesonFollowing the reduced provision for the land scheme announced by the Chancellor on 16th December, authorities' estimates of staff costs for 1977–78 and 1978–79 will need to be reviewed. The effect on costs in 1976–77 will be reflected in the outturn figures which will be available later in the year.
§ Mr. Arthur Jonesasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the estimated cost of public authority staffs in the calculation of net of development land tax deductions where land is acquired by development land tax exempt bodies during 1976–77, 1977–78 and 1978–79.
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§ Mr. FreesonThe information is not available.