HC Deb 12 July 1962 vol 662 cc1506-7
34. Mr. Boyden

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what was the average tender price per square foot for local authority houses where tenders were approved by him in the first three months of 1962.

The Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government (Mr. Geoffrey Rippon)

The average price per square foot of three-bedroom houses in tenders approved during the first quarter of this year was 42s. 1½d.

Mr. Boyden

Is not this very much worse than in 1961? Were not the facts then that the normal average council house was costing £175 more? What on earth is the Minister proposing to do about this?

Mr. Rippon

The figure for 1961 was 39s. 9½d. One reason for the increase, as we have explained several times in this House, is slowness of completion during the period of 1961. As a result of Government action, this position is improving and the provisional figures for April and May of this year show a slight reduction.

Mr. Boyden

Will the hon. Gentleman say exactly what he is doing, because completion is not the only answer?

Mr. Rippon

It is not the only answer. As a result of urging on local authorities the need for more realistic programmes and putting in the pipeline what they can reasonably expect to complete, we have some evidence that prices are tending to fall and the rate of completion is rising.

Mr. M. Stewart

If it is the Government's policy to speed up the rate of completion by causing fewer buildings to be started, that will not help to solve the housing problem, will it?

Mr. Rippon

I do not think that the hon. Gentleman is quite accurate in the way in which he has put the matter. What has happened is that the average period of the construction of a local authority house in the last quarter of last year was 15.4 months and in the first quarter of this year it had been reduced to 14.7 months. This will be reflected in better results in completions and prices.