HC Deb 16 January 1974 vol 867 cc531-3
18. Mr. Clinton Davis

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the land made available for local authority housing by outer London to inner London boroughs from 1971 to 1973.

Mr. Eyre

I regret that the detailed information requested is not available. However, the help which outer London provides to inner London should not be evaluated simply in terms of the amount of land made available. Such help often takes the form of increased programmes by outer London boroughs or making available more lettings in their own properties for the benefit of inner London.

Mr. Davis

When will the Government stop prevaricating on this issue? Is not the Minister aware that Tory councils like Bromley and Richmond have deliberately frustrated the essential needs of inner London stress areas like Hackney and Brent? Does he not know that this is the only way of dealing with the housing problem in these stress areas? When will he do something to get these outer London Tory councils to act?

Mr. Eyre

I must remind the hon. Gentleman that the Action Group on London Housing, which, as he knows, includes experienced local government representatives from both major parties in London, undertook last year a series of visits to a cross-section of London authorities in both inner and outer London to discuss the assistance required and what could be made available. The group recorded in its interim report that there was an increasing awareness among outer London boroughs of the necessity to provide further assistance to inner London and a greater willingness to do so.

Mr. Dykes

Is my hon. Friend aware that the Socialist-controlled Harrow Council is equally against doing anything along these lines because of the limited amount of building land available and because it believes that the real emphasis should be that people like the hon. Member for Hackney, Central (Mr. Clinton Davis) should be more concerned with the redevelopment of dockland than with dealing with the limited land available in the outer boroughs?

Mr. Eyre

My hon. Friend makes a very important point in emphasising the contribution that the use of land in dockland could make to the solution of London's housing problems.

Mr. Leonard

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that one outer London borough which has made a major offer of housing land to the GLC is the London borough of Havering, a Labour-controlled authority? Will he try to ensure that Tory outer London boroughs which have more land available than Havering make a comparable contribution?

Mr. Eyre

According to the action group's survey, enough land is available to sustain the likely level of new house building in London until the end of the decade, but positive action is needed to bring that land into use.

Mr. Davis

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Having regard to those disgraceful and inadequate replies, I beg to give notice that I shall seek an early opportunity to raise this matter on the Adjournment.

21. Mr. Douglas-Mann

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what approach has been made to him by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea concerning the proposed disposal to private developers of housing land that had been compulsorily acquired ; and what action he proposes.

Mr. Eyre

The hon. Member is presumably referring to the site which was the subject of his recent letter to my hon. Friend. No formal approach has been made to the Department about this, but I understand that disposal to private developers is not contemplated.

Mr. Douglas-Mann

If disposal to private developers is not contemplated, that will be extremely welcome news. Is the hon. Gentleman aware that the proposal concerned land in an area of desperate housing need from which low income families had been cleared? If the matter comes before him, will he ensure that he does not give any such approval?

Mr. Eyre

Consent is not necessary in this case, but in areas like Kensington there are people—for example, school teachers and local government employees—who are squeezed between rich property and council and housing association rented development, and it seems sensible that the council should in these circumstances provide houses for purchase by those people and so promote a healthy social mix.