§ Mr. Steenasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish a table showing the number of officials employed by each local authority to maintain the land registers for every year since their introduction, and at the latest date.
§ Mr. MacfarlaneLand registers are maintained by the Department of the Environment, not by local authorities. The local authority for each area for which a land register has been published is required only to hold a copy of it for public use and incorporate amendments sent to it by the Department. No information is available on the local authority staff time used for this purpose.
§ Mr. Steenasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the annual cost of keeping and updating the land registers for each of the local districts; and what has been the total cost for each year since the introduction of the registers.
§ Mr. MacfarlaneThis information is not readily available and would be obtained only at disproportionate expense.
§ Mr. Steenasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) how many acres of public land are currently recorded on the local authority land registers;
(2) if he will publish a table showing the figures given by the land registers of vacant, derelict, dormant and under-utilised land since their introduction.
§ Mr. MacfarlaneThe land registers were first published for 35 districts in 1981 and extended to the whole of England in 1982. The table gives the total acreage at 1 July 1982, when all but five registers had been published, and at six-monthly intervals thereafter:
477W
Acres 1 July 1982 95,329 1 Januaiy 1983 107,612 1 July 1983 110,543 1 Januaiy 1984 112,167
§ Mr. Steenasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if dead or disturbed space is included in the land registers.
§ Mr. MacfarlaneIf my hon. Friend will clarify his question, I shall do my best to answer it.