HC Deb 09 April 1973 vol 854 cc941-50
The Secretary of State for the Environment (Mr. Geoffrey Rippon)

I will with permission make a statement about housing policy in England and Wales.

In order to continue the drive for more and better homes and to widen the range of choice the Government are taking new measures designed to implement the great priority we attach to a high and stable level of house building for sale and to a high level of building for rent where it is needed; to bring the existing stock up to a good standard and to attack slums and homelessness; to increase substantially the contribution of the voluntary housing movement; to secure the release of a sufficient supply of land; and to assure an adequate flow of finance and mortgage funds.

Details of these and other measures are set out in a White Paper (Cmnd. 5280), copies of which are available in the Vote Office. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland is also presenting today a White Paper on Housing in Scotland.

The White Paper contains a number of detailed proposals for substantially increasing the supply of land.

To release more land for housing there will be new guidelines for planning applications and appeals. These will contain a general presumption in favour of housing development unless there are serious planning objections.

To secure the more rapid development of land for housing, we intend to introduce a scheme requiring developers to contribute towards the cost of services provided by public authorities in connection with the development of land with planning permission.

To ensure that land released for housing is not hoarded by speculators with impunity, the land hoarding charge announced by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor will be based on the full market value of the land as at today's date, or at the date of planning permission, whichever is the later.

As at present envisaged, the charge will be at the rate of 30 per cent. of that full market value for each year by which completion is delayed after a specified period, which will normally be four years from the date of planning permission, or from today, whichever is later.

A high and stable level of house building requires also the necessary inflow of funds to the building societies and the Government have begun consultation with them about measures for securing a greater stability in the flow of mortgage funds in the longer term.

At the same time the Government propose measures to expand the voluntary housing movement to enable it to meet additional needs for rented accommodation.

The Housing Corporation is being strengthened and provided with additional funds so that it will play a leading rôle in promoting the expansion of voluntary housing.

In this the Housing Corporation will work closely with the National Building Agency under a single Chairman to be appointed.

He will review their functions and relationship to enable them to promote the development of housing associations in those areas where housing conditions are worst and housing needs are greatest.

Sir Herbert Ashworth, who has served with distinction as Chairman of the Housing Corporation for the last five years, is being appointed Special Adviser on land and housing in New Towns in England and Wales.

Discussions of some of the measures, including the land hoarding charge, will take place with representatives of the local authority associations and other interests affected.

The measures I have described will be financed without increasing public expenditure over the next five years by switching resources from other programmes for which I am responsible.

The Government commend these measures to the House because they will give the necessary priority to housing in the use of resources and represent a balanced development of our housing policies.

Mr. Crosland

It takes an imminent election to galvanise this Government into even talking about action on housing and this statement is a great deal more talk than it is action and, I would think, is designed mainly to distract the attention of the Press and the public from the crisis into which the Government have got themselves on mortgage interest rates.

I have three questions to put to the Secretary of State. First, is he aware that no informed commentator in the City or in the property world believes that the new land hoarding charge will have any significant effect on the release of land and that it is pure political window dressing?

Secondly, supposing, as I hope, that it secures the release of more land, can the right hon. and learned Gentleman assure the House that the crisis-ridden, lump-ridden, construction industry will be capable of substantially increasing its output? Has he seen the very disturbing forecast put out by NEDO today saying that starts are likely to be lower this year than last year and lower next year than this year?

Thirdly, the right hon. and learned Gentleman talks in his statement about beginning consultations with the building societies about a more even flow of lending. Have the Government only just awakened to the difficulties of this situation? Why on earth were not these consultations started 12 months ago? Is it not about time that the Prime Minister, whom I see here, sacked all his Housing Ministers— because I can assure him that the ineptitude of their performance has been beyond belief?

Mr. Rippon

As the right hon. Gentleman will know, we were committed to introducing proposals of this kind by the White Paper of January and by my right hon. Friend's Budget Statement, so it would be assumed that these proposals would come forward at about this time.

As to action, I think that the right hon. Gentleman will find, when he studies the White Paper, that the land hoarding charge will bite pretty effectively on those speculators who think that it might pay them to hold land which is ripe for development.

The construction industry has a very good record and, provided that the land is available, I think that it will meet the nation's requirements in the future as it has in the past.

As to starts, it is early in the year to say what the out-turn will be, but the initial figures are in no way unsatisfactory, and I see no reason why the construction industries should not build more houses in the future than they did even last year.

On 6th February we discussed the question of the stable flow of mortgage funds, and I then agreed with the right hon. Gentleman generally about the position. I think that the first time he mentioned it as a possibility was last November. As the right hon. Gentleman presided over two mortgage famines, I cannot understand why he did not do something about it. The measures which are set out in the White Paper carry forward the undertakings which we gave in the January White Paper, in my right hon. Friend's Budget Statement, and in the speeches which I made in the House on 6th February and 14th March.

Mr. Arthur Jones

It is generally recognised that the main defaulters with regard to the hoarding of land are the local authorities and the nationalised industries. To what extent is my right hon. and learned Friend including hoarding by these sources to be dealt with in these proposals?

Mr. Rippon

Those bodies are not affected by the land hoarding charge, but, as my hon. Friend will see, the White Paper deals with the need for the continuous release of land by public authorities and the nationalised industries.

Mr. Pardoe

Is the Secretary of State aware that his land hoarding charge falls woefully short of site value tax which we have recommended for more than 20 years, and that land hoarding starts, not with planning permission, but when the land is zoned for development? Four years from the grant of planning permission is far too long to delay the imposition of this tax. The need is for a full site value tax, at 30 per cent. at least, from the moment the land is zoned for residential development.

Mr. Rippon

The question of rating site values has been the subject of consideration by royal commissions and inter-departmental committees over the last half century, and the reasons for rejecting it are as valid as ever. The hon. Gentleman will see, when he studies the White Paper, that the charge will bite effectively and quickly.

Mr. John Hall

Can my right hon. and learned Friend give any estimate of the amount of land for which planning permission has now been granted which is likely to be affected by the new tax?

Mr. Rippon

It is difficult to give a precise figure for the country as a whole. We have given figures in the House for the position in the South-East of England. We have asked the local authorities to provide full figures about the position. We announced that in January. About one-third of them have replied. This will become clear.

Mr. Frank Allaun

Has not the Secretary of State left a gaping loophole, namely, that a landowner can delay applying for planning permission until he is ready to sell the land and, therefore, avoid having to pay any tax and delay the whole business? Secondly, is it not a fact that this proposal fails to deal with the root evil, which is that land can multiply in price up to a hundredfold once building permission is given, so that an average house in London is now costing £5,000 before a single brick is laid and Lord Wimborne's £250,000 estate becomes worth £26 million? Therefore, though the Minister's plan may speed up land sales, it will not stop price increases by one penny.

Mr. Rippon

Where there is land which is ripe for development for housing and the owner will not seek planning permission, there are compulsory purchase powers available and I would be quite happy to see them used. Some guidance is given in the White Paper on that aspect of the problem. In the longer term we must seek to balance supply and demand for housing. One of the ways in which we can bring down the price of land is by making it much more generally available.

Mr. Deedes

As the need for a land hoarding charge is likely to be contentious, can my right hon. and learned Friend confirm or otherwise that the stock of land now held in London and the South-East alone on which planning permission has been granted has been reliably estimated as being worth roughly one year's housing supply?

Mr. Rippon

If it is desired to sustain a housing programme of about 400,000 houses a year, it is necessary to bring forward each year about 40,000 acres of land. This is a very considerable problem and it is necessary to secure the release of land on a pretty considerable scale.

Mr. Douglas-Mann

Does not the right hon. and learned Gentleman agree that the most essential ingredient of the comprehensive approach to the problems of stress areas, to which he refers in paragraph 51 of the White Paper, is to encourage local authorities to acquire as rapidly as possible as much of the privately rented housing in their areas before it disappears from renting altogether and to acquire houses that are vacant in their area?

Secondly, does not the right hon. and learned Gentleman agree also that the most essential ingredient in the attack on homelessness will be to enable local authorities—this lies in his power—to use empty houses they have, by adjusting the grant structure to enable grants to be paid on houses which have less than 15 years of useful life left?

Mr. Rippon

I intend to bring forward proposals in due course. The White Paper emphasises that local authorities and other bodies should make available empty houses to deal with problems of homelessness, which is one of our most acute social evils.

If it is the case, as it is in some stress areas, that private landlords are not using the improvement grant scheme, I recognise that there is a case for the local authority to step in and deal with the situation. The White Paper says that.

I stress the importance also—because it is not right to leave it all to local authorities—of local authorities working in co-operation with the voluntary housing movement.

Mr. Raison

What is my right hon. and learned Friend's policy now towards building in green belt and proposed green belt extension areas?

Mr. Rippon

I have dealt with this question in recent speeches at some length. I expressed the view, which I think is right, that there are at present in certain green belt areas—the Metropolitan green belt, in particular—certain areas which are marginal and which make little or no contribution to amenity and on which it would be right to build houses. However, I do not want that to be construed as an attack on the green belt policy as such. We believe that the green belt should in many cases be extended, as we have done with the Metropolitan green belt by 70,000 acres recently, and that amenities in the green belt should be improved.

On the other hand, the White Paper suggests that, in consultation with the authorities concerned, we should identify about 2,000 acres in the Metropolitan green belt which could, in certain circumstances, in view of the changing conditions over 20 years or so, be made available for housing.

Several Hon. Members rose—

Mr. Speaker

I am not going to stop hon. Members asking questions on this matter. I merely point out that this is an Opposition Supply Day. If hon. Members wish to continue asking questions, so far as I am concerned they may do so, but I point out that it is taking time out of the Supply Day debates.

Mr. George Thomas

Would the right hon. and learned Gentleman say whether the Secretary of State for Wales is in charge of housing in Wales? Since the Secretary of State's remit does not cover housing policy in Wales, and since this is the very first time since the Welsh Office was set up that the Secretary of State for Wales has not spoken on behalf of housing policy in Wales, are we right to take this as a measure of the contempt which the present Government have for the Welsh Office?

Mr. Rippon

That is all rubbish. As the right hon. Gentleman will see, this is a White Paper which was presented by the Secretary of State for the Environment and the Secretary of State for Wales jointly. Therefore, it is a joint policy which has been presented. None of the difficulties that the right hon. Gentleman imagines will arise.

Mr. Idris Owen

Is my right hon. and learned Friend aware that to enable his policy which has been announced this afternoon to have a considerable degree of success, there will be insufficient labour available to start the sites which become available? Would he have a word with his colleague at the Department of Employment with a view to training more men rapidly so that his policy will be successful?

Mr. Rippon

My hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Construction has had a series of meetings with the Department of Employment and with the builders. I agree that there is a need, and a continuing need, to improve the efficiency of the building industry. If there were unlimited efficiency and unlimited labour we could build an unlimited number of houses. I should certainly like to see the target raised continually over the years. I believe, however, that this policy will ensure a high and stable level of house building. I would point out that such is the importance that the Government attach to housing that we say that the efforts of the construction industry in the redeployment of resources must be concentrated on housing needs.

Mr. Ewing

Could the Secretary of State say, particularly in relation to Scotland, how the White Paper will affect new town development corporations? He must be aware that new town development corporations must of necessity buy up vast amounts of land in order to plan their future housing needs, and in some of these cases it will not be possible to develop that land within the stipulated period. Has the right hon. and learned Gentleman been panicked into introducing a broad general principle because of the events of the past week—a broad principle which could react very badly on local authorities? Will he give an assurance that he will resist private builders pressurising local authorities to release land for building into which the local authorities have already put the services—drainage, roads and so forth?

Mr. Rippon

The White Paper clearly follows up the action and statements which we have undertaken over the past few months. It is brought forward as an accumulation of the undertakings which we have given at various stages to the House since January.

With regard to Scotland, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland is producing today his own White Paper. That is now available. The situation in Scotland is rather different, partly because of the activities of the Scottish Special Housing Association. Sir Herbert Ashworth will be the adviser on new towns in England and Wales, but the Secretary of State for Scotland will still deal with the position in Scotland.

Mr. Hugh Fraser

While hoping that my right hon. and learned Friend's measures will bring forward more land, may I ask whether he would switch his mind to the real problem relating to the getting of planning permission for house construction? At the moment detailed planning permission takes as long as a year, and this will get worse because of the changes brought about by local government reorganisation this year. This is a practical problem and I hope my right hon. and learned Friend and his colleagues will give their attention to this problem. If that were done, there would be more land coming on to the market.

Mr. Rippon

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend. He is undoubtedly right. That is the purpose of the new planning guidelines which we propose to issue.

Mr. David Stoddart

Is the Secretary of State aware that the land hoarding tax may well exacerbate the situation? Will he not now accept that the only way of dealing with the land problem is through public ownership? More immediately, is he aware that there is an acute shortage of bricks and that the average waiting period is eight months? What does he intend to do to improve the supply of bricks?

Mr. Rippon

I do not think it is helpful to say that these things should be done by wholesale municipalisation or nationalisation. I am not sure what effect that might have on the public borrowing requirement. That is far too simple an idea.

Brick supplies at the moment are pretty good, but I hope brickworks will be put under pressure.

Mr. Redmond

Would my right hon. and learned Friend agree that the shortage of building operatives is caused by the lack of training in the industry, that lack of training has been caused by the lump, that the lump was caused by SET, and now that SET has gone may we expect a change of emphasis in the building industry which will help to get the houses built?

Mr. Rippon

There are problems of the kind to which my hon. Friend referred. My hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Construction has been having discussions about these matters which I appreciate are of some concern.

Mr. Harold Wilson

Would the Secretary of State explain why the proposals in the White Paper were broadcast on the BBC radio news last Thursday night and, indeed, led the news? I appreciate that he would not be sorry, in view of the humiliation which he had had that afternoon, but why is it that the House was denied this information when the BBC already had it? Is the Secretary of State aware that we were able to read about the main principles of the White Paper in the Press on Sunday and Monday and that to this extent he has wasted his time explaining it to us today? Will the right hon. and learned Gentleman hold an inquiry, if he feels that it is appropriate, to see how this got out instead of being announced to the House when this is in fulfilment of a Budget proposition? Is he aware that people reading and understanding what has been put out could, of course, react as they might to the disclosure of any other Budget secret? Would he inquire into what has been happening?

Mr. Rippon

That is the first representation that I have had on this matter. I would have thought that if the right hon. Gentleman had heard something on the news which I did not hear, he would have mentioned it to me earlier.

The principle of the land hoarding charge was explained by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Budget. Therefore, there has been an element of speculation. I was rather pleased that so little had appeared—certainly none of the details.