HC Deb 02 December 1987 vol 123 cc914-5
2. Mr. Sackville

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has any plans to introduce legislation to change the system of repairs and maintenance of council properties.

The Minister for Housing and Planning (Mr. William Waldegrave)

We have no plans to make major changes. It remains every council's duty to keep its housing in good repair.

Mr. Sackville

I am disappointed to hear that, because many council tenants in my constituency have to wait a long time for repairs, and when they are done they often turn out to be inadequate and unprofessional. Does my hon. Friend agree that it is outrageous that my constituents should have to suffer hardship and inconvenience so that a Labour council can hang on to its DLO and give it the extra business that was previously done by private tradesmen?

Mr. Waldegrave

I believe that there is a problem in Bolton, and I do not have that only on the authority of my hon. Friend, although that would, of course, be enough. The council has also noticed that something is wrong and has commissioned a special survey on the quality of repair and maintenance. I hope that that will help, but I can only echo what my hon. Friend has said. Doubtless the council will be stimulated by the reforms that we are proposing to bring a more competitive regime into tendering for this kind of work.

Mr. Soley

Given that the appalling problems of disrepair and maintenance in the private sector are far worse than those in the public sector, and that there is also a problem in the public sector, why do the Government not put some public investment back into the public and private sectors to improve housing in this country?

Mr. Waldegrave

It may have escaped the attention of the hon. Gentleman that 100 per cent. of receipts can be used by the councils to which the question relates for capitalised repairs. That is a route that councils such as Bolton should follow. Bolton council should consider their rents, because they are below the north-west regional average and well below the national average.

Mr. Robert G. Hughes

While the Housing Bill is going through its stages in the House, will my hon. Friend look at the possibility of well-organised tenants' associations being given powers to look after their own maintenance and financial delegation, in the same way as those powers are being given by the Education Reform Bill to governing bodies?

Mr. Waldegrave

That suggestion is very positive. The right of tenants' choice that we are putting forward will give them exactly that kind of capacity. They will be able to organise secondary co-operatives, for example, to do exactly that sort of work. That is one of the attractions of the proposals.