Community Land (Hansard, 17 November 1977)

§ Mr. Michael Latham
asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will list the local authorities which have applied to him in the current financial year for land acquisitions under the Community Land Scheme of a planning or social nature, as outlined in paragraph 14 of GNLA/12, giving the total bid in each case and the amount which he has approved.

§ Mr. Guy Barnett
The information for county areas is contained in the following tables. Some of the proposals are still under consideration; a number are not expected to require loan sanction until the next financial year.
surplus accounts to him for (a) 1975–76, and (b) 1976–77, giving in each case the total level of (1) expenditure, (2) income, (3) deficit, or (4) surplus.
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§ Mr. Guy Barnett
The total level of expenditure and deficit in 1975–76 was £1.7 million. There was no income and no surplus. For 1976–77, the total levels of expenditure, income, deficits and surplus, for the authorities listed as follows, were respectively £19.0 million, £0.8 million, £18.2 million, and nil.
Hereford and Worcester CC

Hereford City

Leominster

Malvern Hills

Redditch

South Herefordshire

Worcester City

Wychavon

Wyre Forest
Salop CC

Bridgnorth

North Shropshire

Oswestry

Shrewsbury and Atcham

South Shropshire

Wrekin
Warwicks CC

Kennet

North Wiltshire

Rugby

Salisbury

Stratford-on-Avon

Thamesdown

Warwick

West Wiltshire

Cannock Chase

East Staffs

Lichfield

Newcastle-under-Lyme

South Staffs

Stafford

Staffordshire Moorlands

Stoke on Trent

Tamworth
West Midlands CC

Coventry

Dudley C

Sandwell

Solihull

Walsall

Wolverhampton
Cheshire CC

Chester

Congleton

Crewe and Nantwich

Ellesmere Port

Halton

Macclesfield

Vale Royal

Warrington
Merseyside CC

Liverpool

St. Helen

Sefton

Wirral
Greater Manchester CC

Bolton

Bury

Manchester

Oldham

Rochdale C

Salford
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Stockport

Tameside C

Trafford
Humberside CC

Beverly

Boothferry

Cleethorpes

Grimsby

Holderness

Kingston-upon-Hull

Scunthorpe
South Yorks CC

Barnsley

Rotherham

Sheffield
West Yorks CC

Bradford

Calderdale

Kirklees C

Leeds C

Wakefield
North Yorks CC

Craven

Hambleton

Harrogate

Ryedale

Selby

Scarborough C

York C
Tyne and Wear CC

Newcastle upon Tyne

North Tyneside

South Tyneside

Sunderland
Durham CC

Chester-le-Street

Darlington

Derwentside

Durham

Sedgefield

Wear Valley
Cumbria CC

Allerdale

Carlisle

Copeland

Eden
Cleveland CC

Hartlepool

Langbaurgh

Middlesbrough

Stockton-on-Tees
Northumberland CC

Alnwick

Berwick-upon-Tweed

Blyth Valley

Castle Morpeth

Tynedale

Wansbeck
Nottinghamshire CC

Bassetlaw

Broxtowe

Gedling

Mansfield

Nottingham City

Rushcliffe
Northants CC

Corby

Daventry

East Northants

Kettering

Northampton
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South Northants

Wellingborough
Lincs CC

Boston

East Lindsey

Lincoln

North Kesteven

South Holland

South Kesteven

West Lindsey
Leics CC

Blaby

Charnwood

Harborough

Leicester City

Melton

North West Leics

Rutland
Derbyshire CC

Bolsover

Derby City

Erewash

High Peak

South Derbyshire

West Derbyshire
Beds CC

North Bedford

Luton

Mid Beds

South Beds C

Aylesbury Vale

Beaconsfield

Chiltern

Wycombe
Herts CC

Broxbourne

Dacorum

Hertsmere

North Herts

St. Albans

Welwyn Hatfield C
Cambs CC

Fenland

Huntingdon

South Cambs
Essex CC

Basildon

Braintree

Chelmsford

Colchester

Harlow

Southend-on-Sea

Tendring

Thurrock
Norfolk CC

Breckland

Norwich

South Norfolk
Suffolk C.C.

Babergh

Ipswich

Suffolk Coastal

Waveney
Oxfordshire C.C.

Cherwell

Oxford City

South Oxford

Vale of Whltehorse

West Oxford
Newbury C.C.

Slough
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Windsor and Maidenhead

Wokingham
Surrey C.C.

Elmbridge

Epsom and Ewell

Guildford

Runnymeade

Spelthorne

Surrey Heath

Tandridge

Waverley

Woking
E. Sussex C.C.

Brighton

Eastbourne

Hastings

Hove

Wealden
Hampshire C.C.

Basingstoke

Eastleigh

Fareham

Gosport

Hart

Havant

New Forest

Portsmouth

Rushmoor

Southampton

Test Valley

Winchester
Avon C.C.

Bath

Bristol

Kingswood

North Avon

Wansdyke

Forest of Dean

Gloucester

Stroud

Tewkesbury
Somerset C.C.

Mendip

Taunton Deane C.

W. Somerset

Yeovil
Devon C.C.

Exeter C.

N. Devon

Plymouth

Teignbridge

Tiverton

Torbay

Torridge

W. Devon
Cornwall C.C.

Penwith

Restormel
Dorset C.C.

Bournemouth

Christchurch

N. Dorset

Poole

Purbeck

Weymouth and Portland

Wimborne
Greater London Council

Barking

Barnet

Bexley

Brent
337
Bromley

Camden

Corporation of London (City)

Croydon

Ealing

Enfield

Greenwich

Hackney

Hammersmith

Haringey

Harrow

Havering

Hillingdon

Hounslow

Islington

Kensington and Chelsea

Kingston-upon-Thames

Lambeth

Lewisham

Merton

Newham

Redbridge

Richmond-upon-Thames

Southwark

Sutton

Tower Hamlets

Waltham Forest

Wandsworth

Westminster
Lanes C.C.

Blackburn

Blackpool

Burnley

Chorley

Fylde

Hyndburn

Pendle

Preston

Ribble Valley

S Ribble

West Lanes

Wyre

§ Mr. Michael Latham
asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether, pursuant to the replies by the hon. Member for Greenwich (Mr. Barnett) on 15th February and 27th June, he will now indicate how many local authorities have failed to reduce their staffing and administration costs to 1976–77 levels in respect of the Community Land Scheme, contrary to paragraph 5 of GNLA /12; what special action he has taken to achieve compliance; and what monitoring activity he envisages to ensure his policy is carried out.

§ Mr. Guy Barnett
My Department's regional offices have been instructed to issue loan sanctions for these costs only where they are satisfied that they are reasonable in all the circumstances. In the light of recent experience I would expect the overall figures for 1977–78 to be of the same order as for last year.
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§ Mr. Michael Latham
asked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how many of the 729.6 acres acquired by local authorities under the Community Land Act 1975 in 1976–77 for industry have subsequently been resold to developers, or let directly to clients; what are the total receipts by way of premium and rental income; and by how much the £5.4 million acquisition cost exceeds the receipts;
(2) how many of the 832.4 acres acquired by local authorities under the Community Land Act 1975 in 1976–77 have subsequently been resold to private developers; and by how much the £6.25 million acquisition cost exceeds the receipts.
(3) how many of the nine acres acquired by local authorities under the Community Land Act 1975 in 1976–77 for commercial purposes have subsequently been resold to private developers; or let directly to clients; what are the total receipts by way of premium and rental income; and by how much the £0.44 million acquisition cost exceeds the receipts.

§ Mr. Guy Barnett
Information on disposals in 1976–77 is as follows. Details of disposals in the current financial year are not yet available.

Acres disposed of

Housing … … 32.2

Industry … … 0.75

Commerce … … 1 property

Capital receipts so far obtained for the housing land total £295,000. Details of rents paid for the industrial and commercial land will be shown in land accounts for the current year.

§ Mr. Michael Latham
asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether, pursuant to the reply of the hon. Member for Greenwich (Mr. Barnett) on 7th July, he is now able to say how much of the £5 million benefit to local authorities of buying land net of development land tax in 1976–77 was accounted for by land bought under the Community Land Scheme.

§ Mr. Guy Barnett
Final figures are not yet available but are expected to show a benefit of the order of £2½ million to authorities in England.
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§ Mr. Michael Latham
asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how much land has been acquired by local authorities (a) for housing, (b) for commercial development and (c) for industrial development since the beginning of the current financial year; and what have been the acquisition costs in each case, and any income from re-sale.

§ Mr. Guy Barnett
It is too early to provide information about land acquired and disposed of by authorities during the current financial year.

§ Mr. Michael Latham
asked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) whether, in view of the fact that only £12.25 million of the £24.4 million in loan sanctions granted in 1976–77 to local authorities for land acquisition under the Community Land Scheme was actually spent, he will indicate for each county council what amount of the unused proportion at the end of the 1976–77 financial year they have sought to claim again in the current financial year; and what approval he has given in each case;
(2) whether he will set out in tabular form for each county authority the loan sanction (a) issued, (b) spent and (c) unused in the period since 6th April 1977 for land acquisition under the Community Land Scheme, indicating in each case how much of the new allocation was represented either by the county council seeking to reclaim part of last year's unused sanctions, or by wholly new projects which were not presented to him last year.

§ Mr. Guy Barnett
The following table shows how much loan sanction has been issued so far this financial year to county areas for the purchase of land. It is too early to give figures for purchases made. No central record is kept of the number of wholly new projects.

County Area Land Sanction Issued (£)

Avon 6,500

Bedfordshire 1,994,000

Berkshire 248,500

Buckinghamshire 39,000

Cambridgeshire 21,500

Cheshire 13,500

Cumbria 144,500

Devon 18,500

Dorset 13,000

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Durham 99,000

East Sussex 58,000

Essex 42,000

Greater London 3,022,000

Greater Manchester 518,000

Hampshire 216,000

Hereford & Worcestershire 75,500

Hertfordshire 100,000

Humberside 76,000

Isle of Wight 43,000

Kent 156,000

Lancashire 5,000

Lincolnshire 31,000

Merseyside 18,000

Norfolk 91,500

Northamptonshire 88,000

Northumberland 287,000

Oxfordshire 10,500

Shropshire 40,500

South Yorkshire 274,500

Staffordshire 224,000

Suffolk 47,500

Surrey 536,500

Tyne & Wear 71,500

Warwickshire 167,000

West Midlands 1,436,000

West Yorkshire 106,000

§ Mr. Michael Latham
asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether, pursuant to paragraph 7 of GNLA /14, he will indicate how many of the schemes of land acquisition under the Community Land Act 1975 have produced higher infrastructure costs than previously envisaged; what is the total extra sum sought in local sanction by local authorities to cover this gap; by how much it exceeds the total of previous sanctions; and how many local authorities are involved.

§ Mr. Guy Barnett
As GNLA 14 indicated, the impression was that this was a growing number. It was not however thought to be a large one, and I do not think that the time and resources involved in quantifying it more precisely would be justified.

§ Mr. Michael Latham
asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will give, for each county council, the total number of acres acquired, indicating the intended use in each case, to date, under the Community Land Act 1975 how many have been subsequently resold or relet; and whether he will break down each figure for: (a) 1976–77 and (b) the current financial year.
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§ Mr. Guy Barnett
The following tables give provisional figures of land acquired and disposed of during 1976–77 for each

Acres acquired (provisional)

County Area Housing Industry Commerce Total

Avon … … Nil 1 Nil 1

Bedfordshire … … 10 Nil Nil 10

Berkshire … … Nil 2 Nil 2

Cheshire … … Nil 17 Nil 17

Cleveland … … Nil 8 Nil 8

Cornwall … … Nil 6 Nil 6

Cumbria … … Nil 72 Nil 72

Derbyshire … … 41 Nil Nil 41

Devon … … Nil 16 1 17

Dorset … … 12 18 1 31

Durham … … 24 12 Nil 36

East Sussex … … 20 1 Nil 21

Greater London … … 5 9 Nil 14

Greater Manchester … … 11 30 Nil 41

Hampshire … … 28 2 Nil 30

Hereford and Worcestershire … … 10 11 Nil 21

Hertfordshire … … Nil Nil 1 1

Humberside … … 14 37 Nil 51

Kent … … 5 36 Nil 41

Lancashire … … 2 Nil Nil 2

Leicester … … Nil 51 Nil 51

Lincolnshire … … Nil 18 Nil 18

Merseyside … … 87 2 Nil 89

Norfolk … … 2 13 Nil 15

Northamptonshire … … 22 Nil Nil 22

Northumberland … … 74 10 Nil 84

North Yorkshire … … 5 Nil Nil 5

Nottingham … … 46 7 Nil 53

Oxfordshire … … 5 Nil Nil 5

Somerset … … 19 Nil Nil 19

South Yorkshire … … 85 148 Nil 233

Staffordshire … … 170 38 7 215

Surrey … … 8 Nil Nil 8

Tyne and Wear … … 30 92 Nil 122

Warwickshire … … Nil 5 Nil 5

West Midlands … … 103 33 0.1 136

West Yorkshire … … 10 42 Nil 52

Acres disposed of (provisional)

County Area Housing Industry Commerce Total

Greater Manchester … … … Nil 0.75 Nil 0.75

Hampshire … … … Nil Nil 1 property^* 1 property^*

South Yorkshire … … … 9.4 Nil Nil 9.4

Surrey … … … 1.3 Nil Nil 1.3

Northumberland … … … 21.5 Nil Nil 21.5

^* Too small to record area.

Acres disposed of
Housing	…	…	32.2
Industry	…	…	0.75
Commerce	…	…	1 property

County Area	Land Sanction Issued (£)
Avon	6,500
Bedfordshire	1,994,000
Berkshire	248,500
Buckinghamshire	39,000
Cambridgeshire	21,500
Cheshire	13,500
Cumbria	144,500
Devon	18,500
Dorset	13,000

Durham	99,000
East Sussex	58,000
Essex	42,000
Greater London	3,022,000
Greater Manchester	518,000
Hampshire	216,000
Hereford & Worcestershire	75,500
Hertfordshire	100,000
Humberside	76,000
Isle of Wight	43,000
Kent	156,000
Lancashire	5,000
Lincolnshire	31,000
Merseyside	18,000
Norfolk	91,500
Northamptonshire	88,000
Northumberland	287,000
Oxfordshire	10,500
Shropshire	40,500
South Yorkshire	274,500
Staffordshire	224,000
Suffolk	47,500
Surrey	536,500
Tyne & Wear	71,500
Warwickshire	167,000
West Midlands	1,436,000
West Yorkshire	106,000

	Acres acquired (provisional)
County Area	Housing	Industry	Commerce	Total
Avon	…	…	Nil	1	Nil	1
Bedfordshire	…	…	10	Nil	Nil	10
Berkshire	…	…	Nil	2	Nil	2
Cheshire	…	…	Nil	17	Nil	17
Cleveland	…	…	Nil	8	Nil	8
Cornwall	…	…	Nil	6	Nil	6
Cumbria	…	…	Nil	72	Nil	72
Derbyshire	…	…	41	Nil	Nil	41
Devon	…	…	Nil	16	1	17
Dorset	…	…	12	18	1	31
Durham	…	…	24	12	Nil	36
East Sussex	…	…	20	1	Nil	21
Greater London	…	…	5	9	Nil	14
Greater Manchester	…	…	11	30	Nil	41
Hampshire	…	…	28	2	Nil	30
Hereford and Worcestershire	…	…	10	11	Nil	21
Hertfordshire	…	…	Nil	Nil	1	1
Humberside	…	…	14	37	Nil	51
Kent	…	…	5	36	Nil	41
Lancashire	…	…	2	Nil	Nil	2
Leicester	…	…	Nil	51	Nil	51
Lincolnshire	…	…	Nil	18	Nil	18
Merseyside	…	…	87	2	Nil	89
Norfolk	…	…	2	13	Nil	15
Northamptonshire	…	…	22	Nil	Nil	22
Northumberland	…	…	74	10	Nil	84
North Yorkshire	…	…	5	Nil	Nil	5
Nottingham	…	…	46	7	Nil	53
Oxfordshire	…	…	5	Nil	Nil	5
Somerset	…	…	19	Nil	Nil	19
South Yorkshire	…	…	85	148	Nil	233
Staffordshire	…	…	170	38	7	215
Surrey	…	…	8	Nil	Nil	8
Tyne and Wear	…	…	30	92	Nil	122
Warwickshire	…	…	Nil	5	Nil	5
West Midlands	…	…	103	33	0.1	136
West Yorkshire	…	…	10	42	Nil	52

	Acres disposed of (provisional)
County Area	Housing	Industry	Commerce	Total
Greater Manchester	…	…	…	Nil	0.75	Nil	0.75
Hampshire	…	…	…	Nil	Nil	1 property^*	1 property^*
South Yorkshire	…	…	…	9.4	Nil	Nil	9.4
Surrey	…	…	…	1.3	Nil	Nil	1.3
Northumberland	…	…	…	21.5	Nil	Nil	21.5
^* Too small to record area.