HC Deb 20 January 1982 vol 16 cc268-9
8. Mr. Squire

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many right-to-buy applications have now been processed by housing authorities.

Mr. Heseltine

I estimate that, by 30 September 1981 local authorities and new towns in Great Britain had received 440,000 applications. Some 48,000 sales had by that date been completed or, in the case of Scotland, reached the stage when missives had been concluded.

Mr. Squire

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on the success to date of that policy. Does he, none the less, accept that in a number of areas, including Conservative-controlled authorities, thousands of tenants have been waiting for over a year for the completion of the purchase of their homes? Will he consider sympathetically an amendment to the 1980 Act that would impose a timetable on all the stages, including completion, and not just on the start of the purchase?

Mr. Heseltine

I am aware that tenants throughout the country, many of whom are in contact with my Department, are concerned about the speed with which the legal processes are advancing. I hope that local government, as it becomes familiar with the techniques of conveying such housing, will make the processes advance faster. That will make it unnecessary to amend the legislation.

Mr. Dobson

In the light of the exhortation of the hon. Member for Reading, North (Mr. Durant) that councils should sell council houses to raise money to build more council houses, will the Secretary of State confirm that, on average, the sale of 12 council houses will be required to finance the building of one?

Mr. Heseltine

That is a completely meaningless statement. [HON. MEMBERS: "Oh!"] The hon. Gentleman must be aware that what large numbers of local authority tenants want is the proper management and maintenance of their houses, better use of existing stock and a more rapid turnover in existing vacancies.

Mr. Cartwright

What action will the Secretary of State take about councils, such as Greenwich, which deliberately penalise tenants who express an interest in buying their houses by denying them improvements, decorations and repairs for which they have paid in their rent? However angry Labour councillors may be about being forced to sell council houses, does he agree that they should not vent their anger on tenants who have done no more than exercise their legal rights?

Mr. Heseltine

I am very much in sympathy with that view. It is unjustifiable for a large public body to use the resources at its disposal against the relatively limited resources of individual citizens who have clear legal rights.

Mr. Viggers

Has my right hon. Friend yet been involved in discussions about giving the right to buy to Ministry of Defence tenants? Does he believe that the idea has merit?

Mr. Heseltine

The Ministry of Defence needs to maintain a stock of houses for its strategic purposes, but my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence has discretion to dispose of surplus homes.