COUNCIL HOUSING (TENANTS' REPRESENTATION) (Hansard, 20 April 1971)

§ Mr. Dick Leonard (Romford)

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to provide for the establishment in each local authority area of housing advisory committees containing representatives of council tenants and other members" and for the co-option on to housing management committees of tenants' representatives; and for purposes connected therewith. There is in some circles a belief that council tenants are exceptionally privileged people. Indeed, the Minister for Housing and Construction recently vastly amused the House by digging up an old quotation from my right hon. Friend the Member for Coventry, East (Mr. Crossman) containing some notably inapposite remarks about them being a pampered and cosseted class. The reality for council tenants is somewhat different.

Technically, local authorities have mostly been excellent landlords, providing good quality accommodation with, in practice if not in theory, almost absolute security of tenure and, at least until recently, at rents markedly below those prevailing in the private sector. But the attitude of councils to their tenants has from the outset been one of almost unalloyed paternalism. Pettifogging restrictions on such matters as lodgers, domestic animals and musical instruments are not as prevalent as they are widely reported to be, but they do exist.

Almost alone among householders, however, the 5½ million families living in council houses have no say at all in the most elementary aspects of their home environment, such as choice of colour schemes and the timing and frequency of repairs and maintenance. Is it really surprising, then, that the leader of the Labour group of a London borough recently said to me with great force, "Nobody would choose to be a council tenant if he did not have to. I know—I have been a council tenant all my life".

For far too long council tenants suffered in silence their almost total lack of participation, only breaking into spasmodic bouts of protest at times of large rent increases. For their part, local authorities of both political parties have been painfully slow in associating tenants with the management of their own homes. 957 As long ago as 1948 Political and Economic Planning, in a powerfully argued tract entitled "Councils and their Tenants", urged councils to devolve management functions to local committees on which tenants would be directly represented. It had no apparent effect and it was over 20 years before any discernible impetus towards tenant participation began to develop.

Two years ago, in June, 1969, my hon. Friend the Member for Bilston (Mr. Robert Edwards) introduced his Council Tenants Charter Bill, which included a provision for establishing housing advisory committees, including tenants' representatives, in all local authority areas. That Bill made little headway, but my hon.' Friend the Member for Bilston, whose long-standing struggle to increase the rights of council tenants has been a shining example, hit upon a most valuable means of improving democracy at the local level. Although I have adapted them to some extent, the main ideas in the Bill which I seek leave to introduce today derive directly from my hon. Friend's Bill, and I am delighted that he has agreed to be one of my sponsors.

Although the Council Tenants Charter Bill was not enacted, there have been during the last two years repeated signs of stirrings at the grass roots level. In Liverpool, an organisation representing all the tenants' associations in the city has had regular meetings over 3½ years with the housing chiefs of the city and have discussed detailed questions of housing management with them. The Association of London Housing Estates has, through its local groups, more recently established similar liaison with the Southwark and Lambeth Borough Councils.

The Labour opposition on the Greater London Council recently attempted to promote a scheme for tenant participation, but it was rejected by the Conservative majority on the Council. However, the Conservative-led Camden Council recently initiated the most ambitious programme of tenant representation which has yet been proposed.

Since my proposals were published a few weeks ago I have received numerous inquiries from tenant groups in many parts of the country, including areas as 958 far apart as Ebbw Vale and Hamilton. Hon. Members will have noted that the councils I have mentioned as having already initiated schemes of tenant participation include both Labour and Conservative-controlled authorities, and the Bill which I seek leave to introduce is supported by Conservative and Liberal as well as Labour sponsors. It is in no sense intended as a partisan Measure.

The proposed Bill contains two principal proposals. The first is that each local authority with housing powers should establish a housing advisory committee, at least half of whose members should be council tenants and at least one member who was an elected councillor. The advisory committees could deal with such matters as repairs, colour schemes for external painting, the layout of open spaces and the siting of children's play areas. Sub-committees may be appointed at the council's discretion for particular areas and individual estates, and in the case of large estates they shall be appointed if 10 per cent. of the tenants or more submit a written request to the council to that effect. The size of the committees, their method of appointment and their detailed functions would be left to the discretion of the local authority. This should allow for considerable variations to suit local needs and for later adaptations to the proposed new structure in the light of experience.

The second proposal in the Bill is that at least two council tenants shall be co-opted on to the housing management committee of each local authority. As hon. Members are aware, councils already have the power to co-opt up to one-third of the membership of these committees, but very few of them appear to make use of this power. Once again, the method of selection will, under the Bill, be left to the discretion of the local authority.

The proposed Bill is a modest Measure. It does not compel any local authority to do anything which it does not already have the power to do. Some councils—very few, regrettably—have already gone a good deal further towards increasing tenant participation in housing management than my Bill proposes. Nothing in the Bill would confine the activities of these councils or prevent them from taking further initiatives in the same 959 direction. But if it is enacted it will mean that in every local authority area council tenants will be given some say in the management of their own affairs. I hope that hon. Members will feel that this is a worthy objective and that they will give me leave to introduce the Bill.