Completions (Hansard, 25 March 1969)

§ 30. Mr. Allason
asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government what is his forecast for housebuilding completions in 1969 and yearly up to 1973.

§ Mr. Greenwood
I do not at present see reasons for expecting any dramatic change in 1969 compared with 1968. For the following years to 1973 I expect housing investment in the public sector to continue at much the present level, but it is not possible to say yet how much will be devoted to rehabilitation as against new building. Performance in the private sector will depend on a number of factors, including the level of demand, the general state of the economy and the availability of mortgage finance.

§ Mr. Allason
If the whole matter is so shrouded in mystery and uncertainty, how was it that the Minister of State was able to give his very confident forecast that the housing problem would be solved by 1973 when there would be a crude surplus of I million houses over households?

§ Mr. Greenwood
Perhaps I could correct the hon. Gentleman: there is no Minister of State at the Ministry of Housing and Local Government. My right hon. Friend the Minister for Planning and Land did not make the prophecy to which the hon. Gentleman referred. On the basis that housing investment would continue at about the present level, he said that by 1973 there would be a crude surplus of houses but that there would be a serious lack of good housing in a number of areas and in areas in which there was a concentration of very bad housing.

§ Mr. Alfred Morris
Could my right hon. Friend say how the growth of housing in the public sector would be affected by the policies on housing subsidies advocated by the right hon. Member for Bexley (Mr. Heath) at Scarborough last week?

§ Mr. Greenwood
A number of points of view put forward by hon. Members opposite, and not least by the right hon. 1262 Member for Wolverhampton, South-West (Mr. Powell), would, in my judgment, be absolutely disastrous for the nation's house building programme.

§ Mr. Graham Page
May we be clear about what is meant by I million surplus in the 1970s? Are the Government working on the basis that they must run down house building in order to dispose of that surplus, or will they take action to put the surplus in the right place?

§ Mr. Greenwood
I am not sure how many times I must explain this before the hon. Gentleman understands. What we have said on a number of occasions is that there will be a crude surplus of about I million houses at that time, but we accept that many of the I million houses will be in an extremely bad condition and that many of the fit houses will be in the wrong place. There will still be need for a much larger house building programme than hon. Members opposite seem prepared to contemplate in putting forward the policy which they propose to pursue if by any mischance they are elected.