HC Deb 11 May 1965 vol 712 cc246-7
14. Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he will initiate discussions with local authorities to encourage them to pool their housing lists and resources.

Mr. Crossman

I shall take every opportunity to encourage local authorities to co-operate in meeting housing needs. Housing procedures vary greatly between one area and another, and it would not be possible to apply exactly the same criteria of need in all areas as would be implied in pooling.

Mrs. Short

Does my right hon. Friend agree that, if we are to make a major break-through with industrialised building and improve on the number of dwellings built by these methods last year, it is necessary for large orders to be given so that large runs of housing built by industrialised methods can be given to builders, and it is only by pooling local authorities' resources, sites and lists and by organising the work on a large scale in regional development that we can really produce the kind of economic situation we need?

Mr. Crossman

The question of consortia of local authorities for the construction of houses is rather different from the question of the allocation of houses by housing authorities. The first is, I think, 100 per cent. good. In the second I see the difficulties which I referred to in my original Answer.

Mr. Merlyn Rees

Will my right hon. Friend agree, nevertheless, that one of the most important functions which could be undertaken by the new regional planning boards would be co-ordinating the use of resources within a region, as my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton, North-East (Mrs. Renée Short) has suggested?

Mr. Crossman

Yes, but I still remind my hon. Friends that the allocation of council houses, like the renting of council houses, is a matter for the councils themselves, and I am very anxious not to trespass on their right to run their own affairs.

Mr. Stainton

Reverting to the content of the original Question, has the Minister's Department conducted a survey of pooling or liaison arrangements, or, if not, is such a survey proposed?

Mr. Crossman

As the hon. Gentleman knows very well, we have been concerned with the question of the pooling of the general lists in Greater London, a subject in which my hon. Friend the Joint Parliamentary Secretary has taken a direct interest. This is an area where we are trying to work on co-ordinated lists. It is a great deal more difficult to do this outside London, but I am certainly looking at it because every effort to try to get a more rational distribution of houses is, of course, right.