HC Deb 18 February 1969 vol 778 cc181-3
6. Mr. R. C. Mitchell

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government by what date he estimates the supply of houses to rent will be sufficient to meet the demand.

The Minister of Housing and Local Government (Mr. Anthony Greenwood)

The date will differ from one area to another. Some areas already appear to be approaching this situation, but most of them have large numbers of bad houses which need to be improved or replaced. At some pressure points enough rented houses seem unlikely to be available for many years on current trends.

Mr. Mitchell

Is that not rather an optimistic reply? Is my right hon. Friend not aware that certain Conservative-controlled local authorities are deliberately sabotaging the national housing programme for purely ideological reasons by drastically reducing the number of council houses which they propose to build? What does he intend to do about it?

Mr. Greenwood

That could be so, but the answer is in the hands of the electors, rather than in mine. My own answer was certainly not over-optimistic, because I said that, at some pressure points, enough rented houses seem unlikely to be available for many years on current trends.

Mr. Gordon Campbell

Following the statement of the Minister for Planning and Land that the national housing shortage should be over by 1973, is the right hon. Gentleman aware that this has not only caused considerable doubts in England but also astonishment in Scotland? Did that statement include Scotland?

Mr. Greenwood

What my right hon. Friend said was that there would be a crude surplus in 1973, and he specifically mentioned the fact that there would be acute housing need in some areas, and also need for a very large slum clearance programme.

Mr. Lubbock

Has the Minister noticed the incredulity with which this statement has been greeted by authorities like Mr. Des Wilson of Shelter? To remove any possible misunderstandings, would he publish the calculations which the Minister made in arriving at the figure?

Mr. Greenwood

Generally speaking, it was treated with incredulity by people who did not take the trouble to read what my right hon. Friend said. The reasoning behind what he said has been deployed by me in the past and it was deployed again over the last weekend. The figures are available if the hon. Gentleman would like to talk to us about it.

Mr. Crawshaw

If what my right hon. Friend said is correct and large areas of the country will have their problems solved shortly, has not the time come to make housing a national problem so that places like Liverpool, which will not have their problems solved in the next 15 years, can receive assistance from these other areas where the problem has been solved?

Mr. Greenwood

We do regard this as a national problem, which is why we have made assistance available to local authorities nationally on a much more generous scale than ever before.