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Derelict Land

Volume 203: debated on Tuesday 4 February 1992

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To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, further to his oral answer to the hon. Member for Swindon (Mr. Coombs) on 22 January, Official Report, column 309, what plans he has to continue the national register of vacant and public land; and if he will make a statement.

My Department's register is expected to remain in existence as long as my right hon. Friend's power to direct disposal is limited to sites entered on it. However, only sites for which the possibility of a direction is under consideration are being added to the register. For the longer term, as stated in our 1990 consultation paper "Encouraging The Use of Vacant Public Sector Land", it remains our intention to replace the national register with statutory owners' registers for all relevant public bodies.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to the oral answer to the hon. Member for Swindon (Mr. Coombs) on 22 January, Official Report, column 309, what other measures, in addition to the requirement for local authorities to maintain and publish registers of their derelict or disused land, are being considered by his Department to address the problem of derelict or disused land in public ownership.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to the oral answer to the hon. Member for Swindon (Mr. Coombs) on 22 January, Official Report, column 309, how many local registers for derelict or disused land in public ownership there will now be in England and Wales.

A total of 430 local authorities in England will be required by the regulations to make available to the public at their principal offices registers of unused and underused land in their ownership. Under the 1989 code of practice, some 200 other local public bodies including health authorities and development corporations as well as Government Departments and other national public bodies are asked to provide similar registers. All bodies have been asked to deposit relevant extracts with district and London borough councils so that they can be made available locally.Responsibility for land registers in Wales is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to the oral answer to the hon. Member for Swindon (Mr. Coombs) on 22 January, Official Report, column 309, if he will make it his policy to require a six monthly return from local authorities to his Department, based upon their registers, reporting on the amount of derelict and disused land in public ownership in each local authority area.

Local authorities are required to make annual returns to my Department of aggregate information relating to their registers and other public sector owners have been requested to do so under the 1989 code of practice. I have no proposals for altering these arrangements.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to the oral answer to the hon. Member for Swindon (Mr. Coombs) on 22 January, Official Report, column 309, what is the likely cost to local authorities of the scheme of local registration for derelict or disused land in public ownership.

The extra cost to local authorities of maintaining registers of unused and underused land in their ownership is expected to be minimal. They should be recording this information themselves anyway in accordance with the 1989 code of practice and in the ordinary course of efficient property management.