HC Deb 27 January 1986 vol 90 c421W
Mr. Bermingham

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how much money was spent by the Government, local authorities and the National Coal Board on land reclamation in England in (i) 1975 and (ii) 1985, or the last year for which figures are available; and what acreage of land was reclaimed by each body.

Sir George Young

The information requested is as follows:

1974–75 1984–85
£ million £ million
Expenditure incurred by local authorities on approved reclamation schemes 8.2 66.4
Derelict Land Grant (DLG) paid in Central Government to las. 11.7 64.5
Acres Acres
Derelict land reclaimed by local authorities with the aid of DLG 2,235 3,073
Derelict land reclaimed by local authorities without the aid of DLG 259 *
* Not yet available.

Apart from the impact of inflation, a main reason why the number of acres being reclaimed has not risen proportionately with the resources devoted to reclamation is that urban sites, to which more emphasis is being given, are more expensive to reclaim.

No grant aided reclamation has been undertaken by the NCB who normally release their redundant sites to local authorities for reclamation.