asked the Secretary of State for the Environment, for each year since 1977, how much Warrington new town corporation has received for industrial development; how much industrial floor space has been constructed; how many jobs it was estimated this would create; how many were actually created and what proportion of expenditure has been covered by rents.

Gross capital expenditure on site works and construction for industry by Warrington new town over the past five years has been as follows:

	£ Million outturn prices
1977–78	2·7
1978–79	4·9
1979–80	4·9
1980–81	5·3
1981–82*	5·4
* Estimated

Total industrial floor space completed each year by the development corporation directly through partnerships with financial institutions, and by others on land brought into development by the corporation was as follows:

Thousand square metres
1977–78	44·3
1978–79	39·4
1979–80	46·4
1980–81	78·1
1981–82*	46·0
* Estimated.

Over this period corporation has succeeded in creating over 1,600 jobs a year, of which about two-thirds are in industry. This was in line with projected performance. Detailed figures for rents are not available; but industrial projects are required to show an acceptable financial return.