HC Deb 17 March 1976 vol 907 cc1304-6
8. Mr. Michael Latham

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what discussions he has had with representatives of the House-Builders Federation in the last month regarding the supply of of land for private house building; and with what results.

Mr. John Silkin

There has been the usual regular contact between my Department and the House-Builders Federation on a wide range of matters including the supply of land for private house building.

Mr. Latham

Will the right hon. Gentleman take some notice of that contact by at least meeting the federation's publicly expressed view that there will be a grave shortage of building land in three years unless the rate of DLT is reduced to a more sensible level?

Mr. Silkin

This, of course, is primarily a matter for my right hon. Friend the Paymaster-General. I was interested to see that the hon. Member for Melton (Mr. Latham) himself lent his eloquent voice to the requirements of the federation on Monday. But I would remind him that in the October memorandum which the House-Builders Federation gave to the Department, to my right hon. Friend and myself, it said that it thought that development land tax should be graded and that only on sales of over £100,000 should there be a rate of 80 per cent. If that were done, it said, it would make a significant difference to the supply of land. As the hon. Gentleman knows, my right hon. Friend has graded it up to £150,000.

Mr. Skinner

Is not the truth of the matter that for many years we have heard constant cries from the Opposition about the supply of land drying up, and that whether we have had a Land Commission or a tax rate of 40 per cent. that has always been their bleat? Would not my right hon. Friend agree that the only answer is the compulsory purchase of land where there seems to be a shortage, if indeed there is a shortage, and to take away the speculation from land——

Mr. Speaker

Order——

Mr. Skinner

—as was recently done in a case——

Mr. Speaker

Order. May I remind the hon. Gentleman that he should resume his seat when I rise in my place?

Mr. Skinner

I was not taking too long.

Mr. Speaker

I know that I should have selective hearing, but I do not propose to put up with any remarks of that sort addressed to me.

Mr. Silkin

I think that my hon. Friend was making a valid point when he drew attention to the fact, perhaps at rather too great length, that the question of tax or lack of tax is not a decisive factor in the availability of land. Some of us remember that, when there was virtually no tax on land in the free market days of the right hon. Member for Worcester (Mr. Walker), the Conservative Government had to provide £80 million for the purchase of land for private housing, because there was a land shortage.

Mr. Sainsbury

Since the right hon. Gentleman apparently is prepared to listen a little to representations by those involved in producing homes or facilities for industry and commerce, why will he not make representations to his Treasury colleagues to extend indefinitely the concession for the first £150,000 of development gains?

Mr. Silkin

I do not think that it is for me to make representations to the Treasury. I think that the Treasury is well aware of this situation anyway. But I think that the hon. Gentleman will come with me this far: if he really believes that a concession of this sort for three years will supply the land, it will do so much more quickly than if it were a concession for all time.