HC Deb 02 May 1957 vol 569 cc335-6
Mr. Collins

With your permission, Mr. Speaker, I beg to present a humble Petition, signed by more than 5,000 of the citizens of the Parliamentary Division of Taunton, Somerset. The Petition protests against the provisions of the Rent Bill and suggests that some thousands of families will suffer misery, hardship and disruption of family life.

Wherefore your Petitioners pray that the Bill be so amended that tenants shall not be evicted from their houses unless equivalent alternative accommodation is provided: that rents shall not be increased unless dwellings are in good habitable repair with reasonable amenities: and that, in default of these amendments the Bill shall be rejected.

And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray.

I beg you, Mr. Speaker, to instruct the Clerk of the House to read this Petition to the House.

The CLERK OF THE HOUSE read the Petition, which was as follows:

To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Parliament assembled.

The Humble Petition of the undersigned citizens in the Parliamentary Division of Taunton.

Sheweth:

That in this area there are more than 2.500 families to whom, despite the serious overcrowding and unsatisfactory housing conditions from which they suffer. the local authorities can offer no hope of rehousing for years to come. Further, that the privately rented houses, built during the last century, are mostly in a condition of decay and it is doubtful if restoration by private landlords is possible. In these conditions, the proposals of Her Majesty's Government. in the Rent Bill now before Parliament,

  1. (a) To grant powers to the owners of a considerable number of those houses, to serve on the occupants, comprising a large number of families, notice to quit, or to rent increases without statutory limit, without any guarantee of necessary repairs.
  2. (b) To serve on the occupants of the remaining houses notice of rent increase, the effect in many cases to double the present rent, will inflict misery, hardship, and disruption of family life on a scale impossible to bear.

Wherefore your Petitioners pray that the Bill be so amended that tenants shall not be evicted from their houses unless equivalent alternative accommodation is provided: that rents shall not be increased unless dwellings are in good habitable repair with reasonable amenities: and that in default of these amendments the Bill shall he rejected.

And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, etc.

To lie upon the Table.