§ Mr. Gordon Wilsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he is able to estimate, at constant prices, the Scottish local authority programme of environmental improvement in each year from 1970 to 1980; and what is his estimate of expenditure over the next three years.
§ Mr. YoungerThe following table shows capital expenditure by local authorities on derelict land clearance, environmental recovery and environmental improvement from 1970–71 to 1979–80 at 1979 survey prices:
£ million 1970–71 3–1 1971–72 2–4 1972–73 7–8 1973–74 17–4 1974–75 7–2 1975–76 7–7 1976–77 2–4 1977–78 2–2 1978–79 0–3 1979–80 — (all figures are rounded to the nearest £0.1m)
From December 1975 this work became the responsibility of the Scottish Development Agency. The amounts for 1976–77 and later years are almost entirely residual expenditure on schemes committed before that date.
No provision has been made in Command 7841 for significant capital expenditure by local authorities on this work in the coming years, though authorities are free to implement schemes within the resources available to them for general services capital expenditure if they wish.