§ Mr. Lightbownasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what further efforts he is planning to make to bring unused and underused publicly owned land back into full use.
§ Sir George YoungOn 19 November, I announced that directions had been given, under section 98 of the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980, to the owners of 21 sites on the registers of unused and underused public land, requiring them to dispose of their interest in the land. I said then that the Government were determined to maintain the momentum we had built up in bringing surplus land back into use and that further sites which might be suitable for similar directions were being considered.
730W
External finance limits £ million, cash
Target rate of return per cent
1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 Anglian 60.0 46.0 40.5 1.36 1.62 1.68 Northumbrian 26.0 23.0 20.0 1.25 1.54 1.73 North West 87.0 *84.5 54.0 0.95 1.48 1.50 My right hon. Friend has today given notice under section 99 of the 1980 Act to the owners of another 32 sites on the registers of his intention to direct them to dispose of their interest in the land, unless they are able to satisfy him that there are good reasons why he should not do so. The notices give the owners 42 days in which to make representations to the Secretary of State. A list of the sites, amounting to some 50 hectares (125 acres), has been placed in the Library of the House.
This is the third batch of section 99 notices. As in the past, we hope that issuing the notice will in itself bring about the release of much of the land. Where it does not, we shall not hesitate, if appropriate, to give a direction under section 98 of the Act.
Public bodies owning unused or underused land should take note. They have had ample opportunity to decide how they wish to use such land or to dispose of it on their own terms. If they have no use for the land, the Government are determined that it should no longer lie idle.