§ Mr. Chapmanasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will list the areas for which he has now published land registers and the total number of sites and acres of land entered on them; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HeseltineRegisters of unused and underused public land one acre or more in extent have been published in the following 27 of the 33 districts and London boroughs so far designated to have them
Bradford, Bristol, Coventry, Dudley, Ealing, Gateshead, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Middlesborough, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Newcastle upon Tyne, Newham, North Bedfordshire, Nottingham, Portsmouth, Preston, Salford, Sefton, South Staffordshire, Southwark, Stockport, Stoke-on-Trent, Tower Hamlets, Trafford, Wandsworth, Wirral.The remaining six registers are expected to follow shortly.
The 27 registers reveal 1,640 sites in the areas concerned, amounting to 15,249 acres in total. These highly-encouraging figures show that the registers are already providing house-builders, industrialists and others with opportunities for finding the development land they need. On first analysis, about one-third of the acreage registered is suitable for development. I have set up teams to scrutinise each register with the task of stimulating the disposal of this land and of finding beneficial uses for the remainder. I shall be considering the extension of the scheme to other areas after the summer.