Departmental Land

Mr. Hunt
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what stage has been reached in his Department’s plans to sell the area of land located to the north of the British Library; what recent estimate of the value of the site has been made; and whether the Department will receive a proportion of the proceeds of any such sale.

James Purnell
[holding answer 22 January 2008]: The sale of the land is proceeding: each party has now agreed the ‘heads of terms’ and the contract should be finalised by the end of February.

The department’s agents valued the site prior to the sale at £45 million but with an expectation of higher bids following the marketing campaign and the completion of St. Pancras station.

In line with Treasury budgeting guidance, DCMS may indeed retain a proportion of the proceeds. The sale also enables the Department to meet almost the entire sum represented by its target for asset sales over 2008-11.