§ Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—[Mr. Goodlad.]
10.56 am§ Mr. John Heddle (Lichfield and Tamworth)I am grateful to the House and to you, Mr. Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to raise the subject of the sale of Airey houses under the right-to-buy provisions of the Housing Act, and the case of my constituents, Mr. and Mrs. Abdella, of Lichfield.
When I wrote to your office on 16 June, Mr. Speaker, I asked whether I might have your permission to raise this matter. I said that I should like to raise the subject of the sale of Airey Houses under the right-to-buy provisions and the case of my constituents, Mr. and Mrs. Abdella. The important word "and" is omitted from the Order Paper. I mention that because I wish to raise, for the consideration of the Minister, the case of my constituents, Mr. and Mrs. Abdella, and the whole principle of the sale of Airey houses under the right-to-buy provisions.
I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Minister for his presence on the Front Bench. He is deputising for his hon. Friend the Member for Ealing, Acton (Sir G. Young). I am particularly grateful to him because he has returned from a Council of Ministers meeting in Luxembourg to be present today.
His presence is a particular pleasure to me because the matter that I wish to raise is of concern not only to 250 tenants and former tenants of properties owned by the Lichfield district and Tamworth borough councils, but, by the nature of the problem, to all right hon. and hon. Members. Earlier this morning, my hon. Friend the Member for Sowerby (Mr. Thompson) told me that the problem of the sale of Airey houses under the right-to-buy provisions was causing concern in his constituency. I note that my hon. Friend the Member for Watford (Mr. Garel-Jones), who because of Government duties is mute in such matters, is indicating his opinion in a north-south direction.
I regret the absence of my hon. Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Sir A. Costain) because he has a deep and comprehensive knowledge of the construction industry in general. I believe that a firm with which his name was associated was given the responsibility, shortly after the war, by the then Minister of Housing to erect Airey houses in most constituencies in England and Wales, but not in Scotland.
My hon. Friend the Member for Folkestone and Hythe has given me a document that describes the Airey system of construction. The houses were designed by—
§ It being Eleven o'clock, MR. SPEAKER interrupted the proceedings, pursuant to Standing Order No. 5 (Friday Sittings).