HC Deb 03 March 1964 vol 690 cc1122-3
26. Mr. Brockway

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what was the cost to the borough council of the purchase of land and of interest charges for loans for each house unit in Slough in 1951 and 1963, respectively.

Sir K. Joseph

For dwellings built by the Slough Council in 1951 the average land cost was £70 per house and £50 per flat; the average initial annual interest charges were £46 and £37 respectively. For dwellings built in 1963 the average land cost was £70 per house—no flats were built during the year; and the initial annual interest charges were £123 for a 2-bedroom house, £132 for a 3-bed- room house, and £176 for a 4-bedroom house.

Mr. Brockway

Does the right hon. Gentleman appreciate that the cost of house sites per unit has increased between five and seven times since 1951, that the land costs alone for a house now represent 17s. 4d. a week in rent, that the site and interest charges cost of a house before a brick is laid is £733? When will the Government do something to stop these swollen charges which do not reflect any service to the community?

Sir K. Joseph

And yet more houses are being built and bought this year than ever before since the war.

Mr. M. Stewart

When the right hon. Gentleman says that more houses are being built this year than ever before since the war, is he referring to this year, in which case he is judging on the record of only two months? Does he remember that the number of houses completed in Great Britain in 1963 was 20,000 fewer than the number completed ten years earlier?

Sir K. Joseph

Yes, but I note that in the last quarter of 1963 we completed 1,013 houses every day.