§ 64. Mr. Nicholas BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what action he is taking to speed up the development in inner cities of vacant land owned by public bodies.
§ Mr. TrippierMy right hon. Friend has put into action several programmes which can speed up the development of vacant land in inner cities owned by public bodies.
The land registers highlight unused and underused land owned by public bodies, and 13,000 acres of such land in inner cities have been removed from the registers since 1984 because it has been sold or brought into use by the owners. We are consulting public bodies about a new code of practice on the publication of information by those bodies themselves about unused and underused land they own. My right hon. Friend is also using his power to direct the disposal of inner city sites owned by public bodies. He is prepared to consider using these powers more widely when asked to do so in respect of specific sites.
Additionally, nine urban development corporations have been set up in England to stimulate the development of vacant and derelict land in their areas. The urban programme supports projects for improving land and buildings in inner cities so that they can be brought back into economic use. Payments from the derelict land grant programme meet the cost of reclaiming damaged land for development, and there has been a steady annual increase since 1984 in the amount paid to inner city local authorities.