HC Deb 27 October 1971 vol 823 cc1715-7
15. Mr. Lane

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he is satisfied with the progress of the house improvement programme; and whether he will make a statement.

The Secretary of State for the Environment (Mr. Peter Walker)

A record number of nearly 157,000 grants was approved in England and Wales in 1970, and approvals so far this year are running at about 22 per cent. above last year. I have been pleased at the response to this incentive. I have just learned that in the Northern Region alone the local authorities plan to improve 50,000 of their houses over the next two years.

Mr. Lane

Is my right hon. Friend aware that we greatly welcomed the recent visit of the Minister for Housing and Construction to Cambridge, where progress is very encouraging? Will the Government do everything possible to keep up the momentum, including a willingness to improve the level of grants if this proves necessary from experience?

Mr. Walker

Yes, we intend to keep up the momentum. The whole of the Greater London area will be participating in a major campaign in some months' time.

Mr. Kaufman

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the people of the city of Manchester, which has a disproportionately high stock of houses needing improvement, cannot understand the new Housing Act, which provides aid for many areas which do not require it and provides no aid for the great conurbation of Manchester?

Mr. Walker

I am sorry that the hon. Gentleman regrets the fact that the Government decided to help areas of high unemployment by giving this incentive.

Dame Irene Ward

Will my right hon. Friend accept the appreciation of everybody in the North of England for his initiative? Is he aware that we in the North are very good co-operators, that we are very grateful to him and his Ministers, and that we shall show him what the North can do when we have Ministers who are prepared to help us in the way that he and his Department are doing?

Mr. Walker

I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for those remarks, as I am to local authorities throughout the North-East for taking advantage of the generous grants which have been provided.

Mr. Freeson

The right hon. Gentleman referred to the schemes for improving 50,000 local authority dwellings following the passage of the recent Housing Act. Can he indicate the impact that the Act has had so far in the private property field? Secondly, on improvement policy generally, will the right hon. Gentleman undertake to encourage local authorities not only to act on their own old estates but to move into the twilight area properties in the private sector in a much bigger way than they are already doing?

Mr. Walker

I very much welcome the hon. Gentleman's remarks. In the private sector there has been a marked improvement in this region since the Act came into being. I agree that local authorities can do a great deal by going into the twilight areas and encouraging an increase in the take-up of these grants.