Greg Clark (Tunbridge Wells, Conservative)

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister

(1) what the statistical basis is of the estimates given in the statements on brownfield development attributed to a spokesman from his Department in The Daily Telegraph on 22 April 2006;

(2) what percentage of new homes built on brownfield sites were built on previously residential land in each year for which figures are available.

Yvette Cooper (Minister of State (Housing and Planning), Department for Communities and Local Government; Pontefract & Castleford, Labour)

I have been asked to reply.

The estimates given in the statement were based on information from Land Use Change Statistics (LUCS). The latest LUCS show that in 2004, 72 per cent. of new dwellings, including conversions, were built on brownfield land (technically known as 'previously-developed' land). Claims that two-thirds of new dwellings built on brownfield land are on gardens are contradicted by the statistics in LUCS.

Of the dwellings built on brownfield land in 2004,22 per cent. were on land that was previously used for residential purposes (which includes buildings and the land associated with those buildings). This is 15 per cent. of all new dwellings built.

There are no statistics on how much of this residential previously-developed land comprises the footprint of the previous homes on the site and how much is the surrounding area. Nor are there detailed statistics on what area of the land is covered by new buildings and what is surrounding open space and garden. It is therefore incorrect to suggest that even15 per cent. of new homes are built on gardens.

LUCS are derived from information on individual sites recorded by Ordnance Survey during their map revision work and supplied to the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Information relating to the percentages of new dwellings, including conversions, built on all brownfield land and on land that was previously used for residential purposes is set out in the following table for 1986 onwards.

The majority of new homes built in the last few years have been on non-residential brownfield land.