§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will make a statement on whether the Government had carried out a national audit of greenfield allocations to complement the national land use database of brownfield sites. [33426]
§ Ms KeebleThe Government have not carried out a national audit of greenfield allocations to complement the national land use database of brownfield sites. Our planning policies for housing give priority to re-using previously-developed land within urban areas in preference to the development of greenfield sites. We set up the national land use database to help local authorities establish how many additional homes can be built in urban areas on brownfield sites.
§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many hectares of greenfield land previously allocated for housing in local plans and unitary development plans have been de-allocated since 7 March 2000. [33425]
§ Ms KeebleThe Secretary of State is a statutory consultee in the preparation of development plans and through the Government offices has been examining emerging plans carefully to identify unnecessary greenfield releases. Just over 300 objections to plans on PPG3 grounds were made in the period 1 April 2000 to 31 March 2001. Information on the hectarage of greenfield de-allocations is not collected centrally.
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