HC Deb 20 January 1982 vol 16 cc269-70
10. Mr. Hooley

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the estimated number of housing starts in the Yorkshire and Humberside region in 1981; and how this compares with the figure for 1979.

Sir George Young

Figures for the last quarter are not yet available, but about 10,000 dwellings were started in the region in the first three quarters of 1981, compared with 13,000 in the same period of 1979.

Mr. Hooley

Is not the massacre of the housing programme one of the Government's most stupid policies? Will it not have serious social consequences, particularly in areas like Yorkshire, which still has many pre-First World War houses? Will it not also have disastrous economic consequences, as it seriously damages the private and public sectors of the house building industry?

Sir George Young

When the hon. Gentleman talks about the massacre of the house building programme, he might reflect on the figures for the region from 1976 to 1979, when they fell from 22,040 to 13,255. We have increased the HIP allocation for Sheffield by 4.5 per cent. in real terms for next year. If the hon. Gentleman wishes to see more money spent in Sheffield to tackle housing problems, perhaps he will persuade the local authority to sell its homes to the 4,000 tenants who have already established their right to buy. That would bring in about £5 million and increase by about 25 per cent. the money that Sheffield has to spend on housing.

Mr. John H. Osborn

Bearing in mind the level of public housing in the past, will my hon. Friend give us the recent figures for private housing starts?

Sir George Young

The private sector figures that I have for the region for the three quarters of last year are 2,121, 2,928 and 2,486. I am happy to say that for the past two quarters the figures show a useful increase over the same period in 1980.

Mr. Edwin Wainwright

Will the Minister bear in mind that thousands of houses, especially in South Yorkshire and the Yorkshire area generally, are crying out for modernisation? Where the local authority has no money to improve them, will the Government help financially?

Sir George Young

The hon. Gentleman's question shows that it does not make sense for Opposition Members to concentrate their attack on starts. Housing conditions can also be improved by modernisaton and other work. We have introduced a new system whereby local authorities have absolute discretion to spend the money that we give them as they wish. If they wish to spend it on improvement they can do so. The region that the hon. Gentleman represents could get an extra £60 million if it sold to council tenants the homes that they have applied to buy.