HC Deb 23 March 1949 vol 463 c513

Resolution reported:

"That, for the purposes of any Act of the present Session to amend the Housing Act, 1936, and to promote the improvement of housing accommodation by authorising the making of contributions out of the Exchequer and of grants by local authorities (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'), it is expedient to authorise—
  1. A. the payment out of moneys provided by Parliament of any expenses incurred by the Minister of Health (hereinafter referred to as 'the Minister') in reimbursing to a local authority not more than one half of any loss sustained by them under a guarantee given by them for the repayment of advances made to its members by a society incorporated under the Building Societies Acts, 1874 to 1939, or the Industrial and Provident Societies Acts, 1893 to 1928, for the building or acquisition of houses or flats, being a guarantee as to which the Minister is satisfied that the liability of the local authority thereunder cannot be greater than two-thirds of the principal of, and interest on, the amount by which the sum to be advanced by the society exceeds the sum which would normally be advanced by it without the guarantee;
  2. B. the payment out of moneys provided by Parliament of any expenses incurred by the Minister in—
    1. (1) making to a local authority or to a corporation established by an order under Section two of the New Towns Act. 1946 (hereinafter referred to as a development corporation'), towards the annual loss determined by the Minister to be likely to be incurred by them as a result of giving effect to proposals approved by him for the provision of dwellings by means of the conversion of houses or other buildings or the improvement of dwellings, an annual contribution for twenty years of an amount equal to three-quarters of that loss;
    2. (2) making to a local authority, towards the expense incurred by them in making to a person other than a local authority a grant in respect of expenses incurred by him for the purposes of the execution of works for the provision of dwellings by means of the conversion of houses or other buildings or the improvement of dwellings, an annual contribution for twenty years of an amount equal to three-quarters of the annual loan charges referable to the amount of the grant;
    3. (3) making to a local authority, in respect of arrangements made by them with a housing association or development corporation for the provision of dwellings by means of the conversion of houses or other buildings or the improvement of dwellings, an annual contribution for twenty years of an amount equal to three-quarters of the annual loss determined by the local authority, with the approval of the Minister, to be likely to be incurred by the associa- 514 tion or corporation in carrying out the arrangements;
  3. C. the payment out of moneys provided by Parliament of any increase in the sums which, under the Housing (Financial and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1946 (hereinafter referred to as the Act of 1946'), are payable out of moneys so provided, being an increase attributable to—
    1. (1) any provisions of the Act providing that where.
      1. (a) a flat approved for the purposes of the Act of 1946 by the Minister on or after the twenty-eighth day of February, nineteen hundred and forty-nine, is provided in a block of flats on a site the cost of which as developed exceeds one thousand five hundred pounds per acre: and
      2. (b) the number of flats contained in the block and in any other block of flats on the site, in relation to the area of the site, falls short of a rate of thirty to the acre;
      the standard amount of the annual exchequer contribution for the flat for the purposes of the Act of 1946 shall, instead of being an amount determined in accordance with section four of that Act, be the amount which it would be determined under that section to be if the cost of the site were an amount bearing to the cost thereof as developed the same proportion that thirty-five bears to the rate to the acre of the number of flats mentioned in head (b) of this sub-paragraph in relation to the site;
    2. (2) any provisions of the Act providing that, where a house approved for the purposes of the Act of 1946 by the Minister on or after the twenty-eighth day of February. nineteen hundred and forty-nine, is provided on a site the cost of which as developed exceeds three thousand pounds per acre, the standard amount of the annual exchequer contribution for the house for the purposes of that Act shall be the standard amount of the annual exchequer contribution for the house as ascertained in accordance with the provisions of that Act plus one pound and four shillings for each thousand pounds or part of a thousand pounds by which the cost of the site as developed exceeds three thousand pounds per acre, any amount of the excess over ten thousand pounds being disregarded except where the house is provided under a scheme of development which makes provision also for the erection of one or more blocks of flats on the site.
    3. (3) any provisions of the Act providing that, where the Minister is satisfied that the cost of providing a house or flat has been or will be substantially enhanced by expenses attributable to measures taken in the construction of the house or flat in order to preserve the character of the surroundings, the standard amount of the annual exchequer contribution for the house or flat for the purposes of the Act of 1946 shall be the standard amount of the annual exchequer -contribution for the house or flat, 515 as ascertained in accordance with that Act and the provisions referred to in the two last foregoing sub-paragraphs plus such sum not exceeding five pounds as the Minister may determine;
  4. D. the payment out of moneys provided by Parliament of any expenses incurred by the Minister in making—
    1. (1) to a local authority or development corporation, in respect of a new building provided, or a building converted, by them for use as a hostel (as defined by the Act); or,
    2. (2) to a local authority, in respect of a new building provided, or a building converted, by a housing association or development corporation for such use, being a building provided or converted under arrangements made by the local authority under Section ninety-four of the Housing Act, 1936;
    an annual contribution for such number of years, not exceeding sixty, and of such amount, not exceeding the sum produced by multiplying five pounds by the number of bedrooms contained in the building, as the Minister may determine;
  5. E. the payment out of moneys provided by Parliament of any expenses incurred by the Minister in making a grant to a local authority or development corporation in respect of—
    1. (1) the construction of a house or flat by an experimental method, the use for the purposes of experiment of any materials in the construction of a house or flat or the installation in a house or flat, in the course of the construction thereof, of equipment or fittings for those purposes; or
    2. (2) the incorporation or installation in a house or flat, otherwise than in the course of the construction thereof, of materials, equipment or fittings for those purposes:
  6. F. the payment out of moneys provided by Parliament of any expenses of the Minister attributable to any provisions of the Act empowering him to make contributions in respect of houses and flats which become vested in local authorities and of buildings provided or converted for use as hostels (as defined by the Act) which becomes so vested;
  7. G. the payment out of moneys provided by Parliament of—
    1. (1) any increase in the sums payable under Section one hundred and seventy-three of the Housing Act, 1936, or Part I of the Local Government Act, 1948, out of moneys so provided which is attributable to the passing of the Act; and
    2. (2) any increase in the sums payable under Section ninety-four of the Housing Act, 1936, or under the Act of 1946 out of moneys so provided which is attributable to the removal from the Housing Act, 1936, of references to the working classes; and
  8. H. the payment into the Exchequer of all sums received by the Minister under the Act."

Resolution agreed to.