§ Mr. Peter Bruinvelsasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to speed up the sale of council flats; how many have been sold by local authority since the right-to-buy legislation was enacted; and if he will make a statement.
312Wreport showed that the zones have so far been successful in attracting over 1,000 firms and some 10,000 jobs in the first two years of their existence. They also act as a powerful marketing tool for the area and, as the RIGS memorandum confirms, they provide a useful instrument for speeding up the servicing and development of often difficult sites. The experiment has several years yet to run and it is too early to take a final view of its outcome.