HC Deb 12 December 1988 vol 143 c404W
Mr. Corbyn

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what have been the housing investment programme bids and the amounts allocated to the London borough of Islington for each year since 1983; how many new dwelling units have been constructed and rehabilitated for each year, and how many new dwellings have been added to the authority's stock as a result.

Mr. Trippier

Local authorities are able to supplement their allocations by the use of capital receipts and we would expect them to spend more on rehabilitation than on new construction. The bids, allocations and total spend; and new build and net additions by conversion reported by Islington council are as follows:

Mr. Steen

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will estimate by how much the public debt would be reduced if all public unused land currently listed on the register was realised on the open market.

Mr. Trippier

At 30 November 1988 there were throughout England 8,134 sites on the land registers, covering 85,200 acres. The value obtainable for all these sites would depend on numerous site-specific and external factors which vary widely. It is therefore not possible to make any realistic estimate of how much would be realised if all the sites on the land registers were sold.