§ Mr. Simon Hughesasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what are the locations of the 11,400 hectares of derelict land referred to in his reply to the hon. Member for Lincoln (Mr. Carlisle) on 28 February, Official Report, column 148, as not considered to justify reclamation; and what is to happen to it.
§ Mr. MacfarlaneInformation about the location of sites identified by local authorities in the 1982 survey as derelict but not justifying reclamation is not readily available. In general terms these are sites which the authorities considered at the time did not justify treatment either because of their remote location, unobtrusiveness or because reclamation was impracticable for technical or financial reasons. The future of such sites is primarily a matter for the local authorities concerned.
§ Mr. Simon Hughesasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what has been the expenditure on derelict land reclamation in each year since 1974.
§ Mr. MacfarlaneGrant aided expenditure on derelict land reclamation in England since 1974–75 has been as follows: 401W
£ million 1974–75 8.25 1975–76 10.70 1976–77 9.97 1977–78 13.38 1978–79 20.67 1979–80 22.37 1980–81 30.02 1981–82 29.70 1982–83 *61.10 * Including £26.61 million for a supplementary programme. The information for 1983–84 is not yet available.
§ Mr. Simon Hughesasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what has been the average cost per hectare of derelict land reclamation since 1974; and what has been the range of costs for each year.
§ Mr. MacfarlaneThe information is available only for reclamation carried out by local authorities with grant aid up to the time of the latest derelict land survey in 1982. The figures are as follows:
£ 1974–75 9,116 1975–76 8,206 1976–77 11,566 1977–78 8,447 1978–79 16,392 1979–80 18,009 1980–81 21,483 1981–82 17,038 No information is available about the ranges of costs for each year.
§ Mr. Simon Hughesasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how much land is expected to be classified as derelict in 1984–85.
§ Mr. MacfarlaneIt is not possible to make satisfactory predictions about how much land will become derelict in 1984–85. The latest survey showed that in 1982 there were nearly 45,700 hectares of derelict land in England, of which 34,300 hectares were considered to justify reclamation.