HC Deb 19 July 1962 vol 663 cc616-8
15. Mr. Hale

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs whether he will make a statement on his recent visit to Oldham and other Lancashire towns with major housing problems; and what steps he has in view to implement his expressed desire for a more determined attack on the problem of slum clearance and of overcrowding.

Sir K. Joseph

Oldham has a very large and urgent slum clearance problem. The council intends to increase substantially its rate of house building for this purpose provided the additional labour required can be obtained. During my predecessor's recent visit he suggested possible ways of attracting outside firms to the area, and these are to be pursued further in conjunction with my Department. I will also offer technical assistance to speed up the preparation of housing lay-outs and designs.

Mr. Hale

I am obliged to the right hon. Gentleman for that reply. Will he bear in mind that this problem remains very much the same as it was 11 years ago, and that the immense burdens that the Corporation has to face under the present method of finance and under the Government's interest charges make it an almost superhuman problem to take sufficiently quickly the urgently required steps? Will he also take into account the question of additional finance for hard-pressed borough and urban councils which have been left with a burden from the years that have gone?

Sir K. Joseph

I accept the urgent need, but we face a situation in which the whole building force of England and Wales is working at full stretch on all sorts of activities, and Oldham faces the need to attract further building labour or, by good management, to get more output from its existing labour. I fully accept the challenge that faces the Government.

Mr. M. Stewart

Does the Minister think that it will be possible to deal with the slum problem generally unless he reverses the tendency of the last seven years and once more raises the output of council houses? Will he do that?

Sir K. Joseph

I hope we shall find that, as has already happened this year, the trend of council house building is increasing.

35. Mr. Wainwright

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if he will give the number of local authorities who have submitted plains for slum clearance for the years 1962, 1963 and 1964, the number of houses for which they have applied for replacement, and the number of such houses for which he has given sanction.

Mr. Corfield

The form in which local authorities normally submit their slum clearance proposals and house building programmes does not enable me to give the hon. Member the information asked for.

Mr. Wainwright

Is it not the policy of the Ministry to restrict local authorities in the number of houses they want to build to replace slums? Is the hon. Gentleman aware that a local authority in my division made an application in respect of slum clearance, but the Ministry turned the application down? Because of the persistence of the local authority we hope that the Ministry will now change its mind. Will the hon. Gentleman on all occasions take note of what local authorities want to do to clear slum houses?

Mr. Corfield

Yes, indeed, and if the hon. Gentleman will give me further details of that case I will certainly look into it.

Mr. Frank Allaun

What is the hon. Gentleman's attitude towards the recent Report by the Civic Trust, which recommends that slum clearance be raised from the present 60,000 houses a year to 180,000 houses a year?

Mr. Corfield

As the hon. Gentleman knows, at the moment the allocation of the purposes for which houses are built is left very largely with local authorities. I take the view that that is the right place for the responsibility to reside.