§ Mr. SandysWith the permission of the House, Sir, I should like to take this opportunity to make a statement. As the 1456 House knows, over the country as a whole a licence has to be obtained to carry out civil building work costing more than £100. However, it was decided last October to reduce this limit from £100 to £10 in the London Civil Defence Region so as to enable our available building resources to be concentrated upon bomb damage repairs. This arrangement has proved most effective in preventing less essential work being undertaken and has resulted in valuable economies of labour and materials.
In order to bring in additional contractors with their men to speed up these repairs, I propose to extend the £10 licensing limit to certain areas immediately outside the region which are within reasonable daily travelling distance of London. At the same time the limit will also be introduced along some parts of the South and East coasts, including the areas which have become known as "Bomb Alley" where numerous houses as well as farm buildings are in urgent need of repair. The areas to be included are the counties of Essex, Kent and Surrey, together with parts of Sussex, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Hertfordshire.
As in London, the responsibility for issuing licences for work costing more than £10 and less than £100 will rest with local authorities. The Order will be issued to-day, and will come into operation on Monday, 5th February. The local authorities concerned, through their Associations, have been consulted and the Government have been assured of their full co-operation in working this new arrangement.