§ Mr. Proctorasked the Secretary of State for Industry whether he is satisfied with the arrangements for industrial development certificates announced on 17 July 1979.
§ Sir Keith JosephI am satisfied that the present arrangements for industrial development certificates (IDCs) which I announced last July, and which included an increase in the exemption limit to 50,000 sq. ft., are generally working well, especially in respect of firms who wish to build their own factories. IDCs may still be required for factories which are of a size below the exemption limit and which are located on industrial estates, and this has resulted in anomalies which particularly affect the provision of factories for rent on industrial estates. I propose to remove these anomalies by making IDCs generally available to both private devel-294W opers and local authorities to enable industrial estates to be developed with individual factories up to 50,000 sq. ft. IDCs for such industrial estates will be subject to two conditions; namely, that no one firm can occupy more than 50,000 sq. ft. and that no part of the development may be occupied by a firm moving from the assisted areas.
This will help to put manufacturers wishing to rent their premises on a broadly similar footing to those who prefer to build their own. The existing scheme for granting IDCs for the replacement of obsolete factories will be unnecessary under these new arrangements and will be discontinued.