§ 30. Mr. Frank Allaunasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs if, in view of the difficulties and delay in obtaining individual compulsory purchase orders where landlords fail to seek and apply improvement grants to install baths, hot water and inside water closets, he will permit and encourage the use of area compulsory purchase orders.
§ The Joint Parliament Secretary to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government (Mr. F. V. Corfield)No, Sir. Indiscriminate compulsory purchase is not justifiable. For the Government's proposals to accelerate the rate of improvement I would refer the hon. Member to the recent White Paper on Housing.
§ Mr. AllaunIs the Minister aware that where a landlord, after agreeing to install a bath, changes his mind, an individual compulsory purchase order has to be obtained, and that this may take three years, as the Leeds Council discovered in respect of its area schemes? Will the Minister consider an alternative to permit a council to seek a single compulsory purchase order for the whole area?
§ Mr. CorfieldI have had no complaint from Leeds on those lines.