§ 35. Mr. Conwayasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he is taking to accelerate the disposal of unused and underused land in the ownership of public bodies.
§ Mr. John PattenWe are continuing to encourage public bodies to dispose of their surplus underused land. My Department has regular contacts with owning bodies to discuss land holdings.
In addition, on 19 November my right hon. Friend directed the owners of 21 pieces of unused or underused land to dispose of their interest in the land within four months. The Government are determined to bring about more releases of land, by directing further disposals in future months.
We also see an important role for the private sector in speeding up the release of underused publicly owned land. On 7 June this year my right hon. Friend the then Secretary of State invited private sector bodies to draw to his attention sites that are possible candidates for directions to dispose of the land. He also made the computerised data base, containing records of sites on the register, available to the public in May 1985.