§ 75. Mr. WHITELEYasked the Minister of Health whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Whickham Urban Council, County Durham, have decided to undertake the building of flats in their new housing schemes; and whether he intends to refuse sanction for such, seeing the evil effect of this system in this district during the past years?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINThe scheme to which the hon. Member refers has been submitted to and approved by me. The dwellings proposed to be erected by the urban district council are well arranged, self-contained two-storey fiats. The Housing Acts of 1923 and 1924 specifically provide for the inclusion of fiats as eligible for subsidy, and where a local authority prefers this type of dwelling, I see no reason to interfere with their discretion in the matter.
§ Mr. WHITELEYHas the right hon. Gentleman taken into consideration the fact that in this particular district and in the district next to it there is a large number of flats, which have created a good deal of ill-health among the people owing to their construction?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINNo, I am not sure of that, and in any case it does not seem to me to be relevant to the particular case of these fiats, which are not calculated to cause ill-health to the inhabitants.