Vacant Land (Hansard, 21 October 1991)

§ Mr. Hinchliffe
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what progress has been made with the review of his Department's consultation paper dealing with public sector and possibly private sector vacant land; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Yeo
Since my hon. Friend's interim announcement on 7 May we have required local authorities under section 230 of the Local Government Act 1972 to supply the Department with aggregate information about their holdings of unused and underused land. We also propose to make regulations to require them to make registers of such land available to the public in accordance with the code of practice published in 1989. My officials are writing to local authority associations to consult them as the Act requires. My right hon. Friend is considering what further measures might be appropriate and our conclusions will be announced in due course.

§ Mr. Hinchliffe
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he will take to ensure that planning appeals, following the directed disposal of public sector vacant land, will be dealt with impartially by his Department; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Yeo
Directions issued under part X of the Local Government and Planning Act 1980 require public sector owners to dispose of particular vacant sites; they make no presumptions about the future use or development of those sites. Any subsequent applications for planning permission would go through the same procedures as those for any other sites. Where a case comes before my right hon. Friend on appeal it would be determined on its merits in the normal way.

§ Mr. Hinchliffe
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what consideration is being given to the serving of direction orders upon central Government Departments in order to release underused land; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Yeo
My right hon. Friend's powers of direction under part X of the Local Government and Planning Act 1980 do not apply to Crown land. However, we seek to ensure with the Departments concerned that where appropriate such land is released or brought into effective use.
Individual Departments are responsible for monitoring and managing their own property holdings. The 376W rationalisation of holdings, the disposal of surplus land and the improvement of systems are encouraged through the public expenditure survey discussions and in other ways.

§ Mr. Hinchliffe
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) pursuant to the reply to the hon. Member for Wakefield on 15 April,Official Report, column 56, how the figure of 150,000 acres of vacant land was calculated; and what methodology and criteria were established in order for this figure to be achieved;
(2) what estimates are now available to his Department from the national sample of vacant land in urban areas in England; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Yeo
The figure of 150,000 acres is based on the results of a pilot survey carried out in preparation for the Department's national sample survey of the stock of vacant land in urban areas in England. The sample for the pilot survey was drawn from a set of 25-hectare map squares covering England, entirely enclosed or intersected by the Department's digitised urban area boundaries and stratified by region. The sample squares selected were visited by Ordnance Survey surveyors who recorded details of the number of vacant sites and amount of vacant land per site. The definition of vacant land used in the pilot survey is consistent with that used in the Department's land use change statistics.
The national sample survey of the stock of vacant land in urban areas in England has been completed and the contractor's draft report to the Department is under consideration. It would be premature to release figures out of context at this stage.