Money raised from the sale of regional development agency assets will be spent in the same region, business minister Lady Wilcox assured the House of Lords.
She was asked by Lord Shipley where the money raised would be spent and whether, when residual assets are transferred to the Homes & Communities Agency, it would consult on how the assets would be allocated. She replied in the affirmative.
The minister told peers that around 20% of RDA land and property has been cleared for sale on the open market and the DBIS and DCLG are working on arrangements for long-term management of the rest.
But Lord Greaves asked whether the minister was aware that most of the property and land was bought for public purposes to carry out and assist desirable development and he asked for guarantees that careful attention would be given in all cases to make sure the people buying it use it for the purpose it was acquired for.
"DBIS and DCLG are considering how to manage the remaining land and property assets," replied the minister.
"An announcement will be made on that soon. One option is to transfer them to the Homes & Communities Agency, which would allow local areas to benefit from regeneration of the RDA assets."
She confirmed that local authority bids would be considered with any other approaches.
