Housing Stress Areas (Hansard, 25 July 1979)

§ 5. Mr. Best
asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the attitude of certain local authorities, such as Lewisham, in housing stress areas which refused to sell council houses.

§ Mr. Stanley
We are preparing legislation which will give council tenants, including those in Lewisham, the right to buy their homes, and we shall be bringing the Bill before the House as soon as possible.

§ Mr. Best
Does my hon. Friend agree that local councils at present refusing to sell council houses are doing nothing more than ensuring that a heavy financial burden will be placed upon council tenants because, when they are ultimately enabled to buy council houses under Conservative legislation, they will have to pay far more for them? Does he also agree that the only way to extend home ownership, which is a common goal on both sides of the House, is by selling council houses when there is a crude surplus of houses throughout the whole of the country?

§ Mr. Stanley
I agree wholeheartedly with my hon. Friend.

§ Mr. Christopher Price
Does the hon. Gentleman agree that it is something of an impertinence for a Brighton councillor who has recently been elected the hon. Member for Anglesey to start asking questions about my constituency? Is he aware that the Lewisham council, which is one of the best housing authorities in London, will fight the Bill, like everyone on the Labour Benches, because it will ruin the chances of those in high-rise blocks in my constituency and in other constituencies? Has he any comments on what effect the sale of council houses will have in Anglesey and Brighton, especially in creating a situation in which council houses eventually become second homes, unoccupied for most of the year and used merely by holiday-makers?

§ Mr. Stanley
I suggest to the hon. Gentleman that the Lewisham authority, rather than concentrating its efforts on fighting the Bill, should concentrate on ensuring that it successfully uses its existing capital allocations, having underspent its capital allocation by a total of £6¼ million over the past two years.

§ Mr. Proctor
Is my hon. Friend aware that 11,000 new town tenants wish to buy their own homes and that 5,100 of them are in my constituency of Basildon? Will he ensure that the policy of the Government is in tune with the mood of the people, in contrast to that of the Labour Party, which intends to fight the people's wishes?

§ Mr. Stanley
A remarkable result of the new consent that we issued for the new towns in May is that since then no fewer than 11,000 inquiries have been received from new town tenants seeking to buy their own homes.

§ Mr. Dixon
Will the Minister say how the sale of council houses will help over 1 million tenants whose homes do not have indoor toilets?

§ Mr. Stanley
We managed to retain in the current financial year an increased expenditure of £100 million on local authority improvements.