§ Lord Melchettasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many empty factories there are in the whole of the Special Development Area (SDA) which includes Hayle in Cornwall, and what area of factory space this represents; and how many vacant plots on existing industrial estates there are in this SDA, and what area of land these represent.
§ The Minister of State for Defence Procurement (Viscount Trenchard)Her Majesty's Government do not keep any central records of vacant factories or of industrial sites available for development. However, I am informed by the Secretary of State for Industry, who is responsible for the activities of the English Industrial Estates Corporation, that the corporation has 30 factory units vacant in the area, comprising 16,000 square metres of factory floorspace, and owns one vacant plot comprising 11 acres of land suitable for further industrial development.
EIEC reports that much of the vacant industrial space in the area is old, unserviced and totally unsuitable for modern business requirements, or too specialised for general industrial use. The level of inquiries from both small and larger businesses seeking good general purpose modern accommodation in the area has been encouraging in recent months and EIEC expects an upturn in the rate of occupations in the coming year.