§ 18. Mr. Tebbitasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will now take further steps to secure the release of more land for private house building.
§ 37. Mr. Idris Owenasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he is satisfied with the response to date of local authorities to his Circular 10/70; and if he will make a statement on land availability.
§ 5. Mr. Clinton Davisasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will now make a further statement on the Government's policy to curtail rising land prices.
§ Mr. Graham PageI would refer the hon. Members to the Answer which I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Derbyshire, South-East (Mr. Rost) on 8th December last. I then outlined the many steps we are taking to meet the need for additional supplies of land, particularly in pressure areas where the upsurge of demand for housing has created shortages in land appropriate for development.—[Vol. 827, c. 1287–89.]
§ Mr. TebbitWould my hon. Friend agree that although until recently the responsibility for the inflation of house prices has lain at the doors of those who crippled the building industry under the last Government, the new cause in future will arise from a shortage of building 1376 land? Would he take the opportunity today of pledging the Government to a programme under which the release of enough land to build, say, three or four million houses in the next decade is guaranteed?
§ Mr. PageI agree with the first part of my hon. Friend's supplementary question. I doubt whether a target of available land is purposeful. I suppose that Hyde Park could be called available land. It is a question of suitability as well as of availability. But, as my hon. Friend invites me, I take the opportunity to pledge that the Government will make every effort to meet the demand for the right land in the right place at the right time.
§ Mr. CantIs the hon. Gentleman aware that certain authorities, such as Stoke-on-Trent, which are on the verge of releasing a considerable acreage of white land for housing purposes, are faced with the fact that, on the one hand, developers will make very substantial personal fortunes and, on the other hand, local authorities will be involved in enormous development costs? Could he offer a development subsidy to these local authorities which are falling in with the Government's plan?
§ Mr. PageThere are appropriate grants and subsidies for that purpose. I am very pleased to see local authorities developing on a comprehensive development basis. This is what we want to bring forward.
§ Mr. Arthur JonesWhat has my hon. Friend to say on the subject of the lack of availability of residential land for development where there is clear reluctance on the part of county councils to approve planning applications?
§ Mr. PageI am not finding a reluctance at present. County councils are bringing forward schemes and considering partnerships with private enterprise and various ways of bringing forward comprehensive developments. It takes time to plan the services for the land.
§ Mr. Denis HowellIs not the Minister aware that, judged against the criteria of Government policy to make land available at prices that people can afford, Government policy is completely disastrous? Is 1377 he aware that the price of land is rocketing so much that it has been estimated by Birmingham builders, for instance, to have put £500 on the price of a house in the last three months? In London it is quite impossible for an ordinary working person to obtain a mortgage. For example, a clerk earning £25 a week in London can get a mortgage of only £3,900. What sort of slum will that buy in London? What will the Government do about this?
§ Mr. PageAs the hon. Gentleman knows, mortgage rates have gone down. On average, land costs account for only the same proportion over the years, and the price of land has risen only as much as wages.
§ Mr. Raphael TuckThe hon. Gentleman must be joking.