HC Deb 19 July 1962 vol 663 cc613-4
26. Mr. Hilton

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he will state the percentage of the rural population whose homes are not connected with mains sewerage facilities.

Mr. Corfield

My right hon. Friend regrets that this information is not available.

Mr. Hilton

Would not the hon. Gentleman agree that far too many properties in rural areas are without this important amenity? Is he aware that I was recently in his own constituency and that I know that the same problem exists there? Why should people in rural areas be expected to live in such primitive conditions in 1962? I appreciate that there has been a change of Minister and may I ask whether, in consultation with his right hon. Friend, the hon. Gentleman will give this matter further and urgent consideration?

Mr. Corfield

I will certainly give it consideration, but I would point out to the hon. Gentleman that figures of this sort can be very misleading. As I am sure he will know, in many of the remoter rural areas the figures do not show whether other types of drainage are adequate or inadequate. In many cases they are adequate.

Sir H. Harrison

Would not my hon. Friend agree that rural district councils have been most forward-looking in the last ten years, and that, with Government support, a large number of schemes for sewerage and sewage disposal have been successfully carried out?

Mr. Corfield

I am grateful to my hon. and gallant Friend for asking that question. Over the last five years nearly £70 million has been spent on rural sewerage and sewage disposal work, over £12 million being Government grants.

Mr. C. Hughes

Why has the hon. Gentleman not been able to obtain the figures for which my hon. Friend asked? Is not it possible to get them from water authorities and undertakings? Is it not the case that in many areas in Wales and in the north of England the percentages are very high? Will his hon. Friend institute a drive to see that these people get this important amenity?

Mr. Corfield

Of course we could obtain these figures by circularising all the rural authorities and asking for them. But, as I attempted to indicate to the hon. Member for Norfolk, South-West (Mr. Hilton), it is doubtful whether the figures would reveal anything. I am sure that the hon. Member for Anglesey (Mr. C. Hughes) knows many parts of his own constituency where it would be wholly out of place to try to provide these facilities.