§ 19. Mr. Bingasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government whether, in view of the fact that in the first six months of this year the Hornchurch Urban District Council have completed only 24 houses to let as compared with 286 built for sale, and that there are over 1,500 families on the Hornchurch waiting list, he will withdraw from the Horn-church Urban District Council the powers delegated by him to issue building licences.
§ Mr. H. MacmillanNo, Sir. The Urban District Council have been properly issuing licences in accordance with the present procedure. Their own progress has been held up by the fact that they cannot start on their principal new site till proper sewerage is available.
§ Mr. BingIs the Minister aware, firstly, that his Department has refused to find the funds necessary for the sewerage scheme, and, secondly, that the Conservative local council is saying that the Minister approves the proportion of 24 council houses to 268 built for private enterprise? Will the right hon. Gentleman say that he disapproves of that now?
§ Mr. MacmillanThe actual facts are that, since the war, 4,000 houses have been built in the Hornchurch district, of which about 2,000 were by private enterprise and 2,000 by the local authorities.
§ Mr. BingIs the Minister aware that these 2,000 houses were built under a Labour-controlled council, and that, since the Conservatives have taken over, there has been practically a cessation of private building, and will he not condemn it?
§ Mr. MacmillanNo, Sir; the hon. and learned Gentleman is wrong in his facts, not, I think, for the first time. The largest numbers of private enterprise houses built since the war were 423 in 1945–46 and 405 in 1946–47.
§ 20. Mr. Bingasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government whether he will state at the nearest convenient date the number of houses under construction for the local authority and by private enterprise for sale, respectively, in the Hornchurch urban district.
§ Mr. H. MacmillanI cannot add to the information published in the Housing Returns and summaries.
§ Mr. BingIs the Minister aware, first of all, that the Conservative Chairman of Hornchurch Council says that that information is wrong, and, secondly, that it shows that there are 98 houses under construction for letting and 508 for private enterprise? Does he not consider that that is absolutely disgusting?
§ Mr. MacmillanThe hon. and learned Gentleman seems to be giving information rather than asking for it.
§ Mr. BingWill not the right hon. Gentleman appreciate that, when he is in office, it is necessary for every hon. Member to do that?
§ Mr. MacmillanThey ask the Questions, but they do not like the answers, and the answer is 300,000 houses a year.