§ Mr. StinchcombeTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what proportion of housing development has been undertaken on brownfield land since the Government adopted the 60 per cent. target. [11403]
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§ Ms KeebleThe national target is that by 2008, 60 per cent. of additional housing should be provided on previously developed land and through conversions of existing buildings. The latest information available from the Department's Land Use Change Statistics is that between 1998 and 2000, about 57 per cent. of new dwellings were built on previously developed land (including new dwellings provided from the conversion of existing buildings, which account for 3 percentage points). These statistics are unlikely to reflect yet the effect of our planning policy for housing set out in PPG3 because of the time lag between granting planning permissions, completing dwellings and recording changes in the field.