§ 1. Mr. Swinglerasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs by what proportions the local authority house-building programmes in the borough and rural district of Newcastle-under-Lyme have risen or fallen in the last three years; for what reasons; and what steps he will now take to help the councils to enlarge them.
§ The Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs (Mr. Henry Brooke)I would refer the hon. Member to the statistics which are published quarterly as an Appendix to the Housing Return. During the past two years, housing authorities have been free to determine the size of their annual programmes of house-building, and variations have been their 172 responsibility. I have already advised the House that during 1958, as part of the measures to counter inflation, there must be some slowing down of house-building by local authorities; and I am not, therefore, prepared to encourage them to enlarge their programmes at the moment.
§ Mr. SwinglerIs the Minister aware that that is a grossly misleading reply? The experience of the last few years is that the Government have piled restriction upon restriction on the local authorities in the form of higher interest charges that will postpone the fulfilment of the housing needs of my constituents, who are grossly dissatisfied with the situation. Will the right hon. Gentleman kindly give an assurance that he will not impose any further restriction upon them?
§ Mr. BrookeI deny entirely the insinuation in the first part of the supplementary question. I have indicated to a number of local authorities, all of whom have been quite free to determine their own programmes, that if they found themselves in financial difficulty they might well look at the level of their existing rents.
§ Mr. MitchisonDoes the right hon. Gentleman's answer mean that he has now abandoned what he called his slum clearance campaign?
§ Mr. BrookeNo, Sir.