HC Deb 16 February 1972 vol 831 cc407-9
26. Mr. Willey

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what action he is taking to reduce land prices.

38. Mr. William Hamilton

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what new policy initiatives he intends to take to halt the continuing rises in land prices.

Mr. Graham Page

For the initiatives which the Government have already taken I would refer the hon. Members to the answer which I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Derbyshire, South-East (Mr. Rost) on 8th December last. The Department's regional officers are proceeding with joint consultations with local planning authorities and representatives of building firms on areas of special difficulty. Upon the results of this work will depend the nature of further initiatives by the Government.—[Vol. 827, c. 1287–9.]

Mr. Willey

Is the Minister aware that by the abolition of the betterment levy he is giving a tax-free hand-out to land speculators amounting to scores of millions of pounds, more than enough to settle the miners' strike, and that this has sparked off an unprecedented speculation in property which in London is bringing property prices up to the fantastic figure of approaching £500,000 an acre? When will the Government step in and stop this squalid profiteering at the expense of people's houses?

Mr. Page

We are trying to dispose of quite a large quantity of land acquired by the Land Commission, land of no great value. Would right hon. and hon. Members opposite return to the Land Commission?

Mr. Hamilton

Did not the Government state at the time of the General Election that the abolition of the Land Commission would have the effect of reducing land prices? Is it not a gross betrayal of the electorate that that has not happened? The scandal in land speculation is one of the biggest in the country. made worse by the fact that Conservative right hon. and hon. Members are chairmen and directors of property companies that are making fantastic profits out of land speculation.

Mr. Page

The hon. Gentleman will recall that his own party in its manifesto for the General Election before last said that the Land Commission would reduce the price of land. No such claim was made by my own party in abolishing the Land Commission.

Hon. Members

It was.

Mr. Costain

As the director of a company that has to buy land, not sell it, may I ask my hon. Friend whether it is not ironical—

Hon. Members

Declare your interest.

Mr. Speaker

Order. The hon. Gentleman said he was a director of a company that has to buy land, not sell it.

Mr. Costain

Does not my hon. Friend find it ironical that the right hon. Member for Sunderland, North (Mr. Willey), who started this rise in the price of land, should ask such a question?

Mr. Page

Yes, Sir.

Mr. John Silkin

Does the hon. Gentleman recall that on 20th July, 1970, his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, who I suggest might have been answering this Question, made a statement to the House in which he announced the abolition of the betterment levy and presaged the abolition of the Land Commission, and gave as the reason for his rather indecent hurry that it was to make land available and bring down prices? What went wrong?

Mr. Page

The land is being made available, particularly the land which was locked up by the Land Commission, and further land is being made available by local authorities selling off land for private building.

Mr. Allason

Is not the trouble the huge, unsatisfied demand for houses and the shortage of housing land? Is it not a matter of getting the local authorities really busy and releasing land for housing as soon as possible?

Mr. Page

Yes, indeed. This is the solution, to get the land available, and that is what we are working on in various working parties with local authorities and developers.

Mr. Heffer

On a point of order—

Mr. Speaker

I would rather hope that points of order are not raised during Question Time, although I quite agree that a bad example was set.

Mr. Heffer

This is a rather important point of order, Mr. Speaker. You intervened when the hon. Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Mr. Costain) was on his feet and you suggested that the hon. Gentleman bought land rather than sold it. It is a most amazing thing when Mr. Speaker intervenes on behalf of a Member.

Mr. Speaker

Order. A number of hon. Members were shouting to the hon. Gentleman to declare his interest. I was simply drawing attention to what he had said, which perhaps they did not hear.

Mr. Heffer

That may well be so, but if there appears to be a defence of any hon. Member individually, rather than of the House as a whole, that is quite unforgivable, and I hope we shall not have precedents of that kind.

Mr. Speaker

Let me rule on this at once. I am not expressing my opinion. If what an hon. Member says is not heard by other hon. Members, I shall repeat what he said if I think it is in the interests of the House. It is not expressing an opinion of any kind.

Mr. Willey

On a point of order. In view of the thoroughly unsatisfactory nature of the reply, may I give notice that I shall endeavour to raise the matter on the Adjournment.