HC Deb 04 February 1981 vol 998 cc272-4
2. Mr. Gwilym Roberts

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what are the latest figures available for the annual totals of local authority housing starts and the number of houses currently included in their housing improvement programmes; if he will publish in the Official Report the corresponding figures for the last 15 years; and if he will make a statement.

The Minister for Housing and Construction (Mr. John Stanley)

The latest available information is that there were 29,800 local authority housing starts in England in the 12 months ending on 30 November 1980. The housing investment programme submissions by local authorities last August indicated that they were then planning to start about 29,600 dwellings and to improve about 96,000 council dwellings in 1980–81. I shall with permission publish the figures for the past 15 years in the Official Report.

Mr. Roberts

Does the Minister accept that these figures are deplorable? Will he be honest and say that it is Government policies that have destroyed local authority housing programmes and destroyed all hope for millions of people who are on housing lists or are waiting for housing improvements? Does he accept that the Government are leaving a legacy of bad housing which will probably be with us until the next century?

Mr. Stanley

The hon. Gentleman will remember that the previous Administration cut housing capital by half in the lifetime of the previous Parliament. He should also be aware that, at the choice of local authorities, there has been a substantial switch in the public sector from expenditure on new building to expenditure on improvements. So that the hon. Gentleman may have the complete picture he will want to be aware that in the last 12 months for which we have figures improvements to private houses have been the highest since 1975, to council houses the highest since 1973, and to housing association dwellings one of the highest ever.

Mr. Michael Morris

Instead of just publishing lists of figures on housing starts, will my hon. Friend also publish a list of local authorities which hold empty properties, and the length of time for which they have held them empty? If they cannot or will not improve them, will my hon. Friend make them available to the private sector?

Mr. Stanley

My hon. Friend is entirely right. He will be glad to know that a few days ago my hon. Friend the Member for Melton (Mr. Latham) asked me how many local authorities had had more than 100 dwellings empty for more than a year. The answer was published in the Official Report. My hon. Friend is entirely right that improvement for sale and homesteading represent excellent ways of bringing those empty properties into use.

Mr. Frank Allaun

Will the hon. Gentleman permit the loss caused by the six months' moratorium to be made good after April? Does he recognise that the projected 48 per cent. cut in housing expenditure by 1983 has already reached 51 per cent. with 18 months yet to go?

Mr. Stanley

The moratorium has not affected the total allocation made available by my right hon. Friend for 1980–81. The initial allocation was about £2.2 billion, and that stands. My right hon. Friend has already made clear to the House that should authorities underspend as a result of the moratorium they will be permitted to add that amount of underspend to their allocations for 1981–82.

Mr. Heddle

Will my hon. Friend explode the myth propounded by the hon. Member for Cannock (Mr. Roberts) that housing starts bear any relationship to housing waiting lists? The majority of people on housing waiting lists would as soon exercise the right-to-buy or rent in the private sector.

Mr. Stanley

My hon. Friend is right. A considerable number of those on local authority waiting lists will buy—and willingly—if they have the opportunity to do so. It is significant that during 1980 the number of owneroccupied dwellings in Great Britain rose above 55 per cent. for the first time.

Mrs. Ann Taylor

Will the Minister confirm that the figures for housing starts in the public sector for 1980 are likely to be the worst since 1925? In view of that appalling state of affairs will he give an undertaking that when the final figures are announced he will make a statement to the House and accept his full responsibility for that disaster?

Mr. Stanley

The figures will be announced in the normal way, which has been admirably precedented by the previous Government. It is essential to look, not merely at the figures for new starts, but at other figures as well. If the hon. Lady is concerned about rented accommodation she could do a great deal to contribute to its greater availability by altering the irresponsible commitment by her right hon. Friend to repeal shortholds, which is having the direct effect of taking rented accommodation off the market.

Following are the figures:

Local Authority Dwellings (England) Started and Improved 1965–1979
Dwellings started ✶Dwellings improved
1965 126,755 †37,750
1966 133,537 †30,239
1967 151,045 †28,808
1968 133,033 30,014
1969 116,042 26,560
1970 100,709 40,357
1971 89,871 59,144

Dwellings started ✶Dwellings improved
1972 80,329 97,482
1973 71,736 110,053
1974 95,149 73,494
1975 110,335 36,163
1976 107,608 38,983
1977 81,099 37,551
1978 67,637 60,871
1979 46,647 75,967
1980 (January to November) ‡26,357 §60,040
✶Including dwellings gained on conversion
†England and Wales (separate figures for England not available)
‡Provisional
§January to September—provisional