§ Lord Hardy of Wathasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will afford greater priority to the use of land within urban areas or on brownfield sites rather than encourage or enable housing development in rural areas, especially where public transport provision is inadequate.
§ Baroness HaymanThe Government have not yet taken a final decision on what target might be appropriate for the amount of new housing to be built on previously developed land. In the meantime, the previous Government's target of 50 per cent. still applies. We are considering our policy on planning for household growth, taking into account the public consultation earlier this year, and will announce our decisions in due course. We remain committed both to protecting the countryside, and to regenerating our towns and cities by encouraging local authorities to make the best possible use of previously developed land. The presumption against inappropriate development within Green Belts remains in place.
§ Lord Hardy of Wathasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is their estimate of the number of houses built in the rural areas of England and Wales during the last decade and what proportion of the total houses built this represents.
§ Baroness HaymanInformation is not held centrally in the form requested. The table below shows new housebuilding in the predominantly rural local authority areas of both England and Wales. Housebuilding data are collected at local authority level and do not differentiate between dwellings built in rural and urban areas within a local authority area.
privatised by the previous government, or whether this remains an option.
§ Baroness HaymanWe are currently carrying out a wide-ranging review of the railway industry and at this stage it is too early to rule out any options. However, as we have repeatedly made clear, renationlisation would be extremely costly and could not be a priority, given other pressures on public spending.