New Towns (Hansard, 10 November 1982)

§ 8. Mr. Newens
asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received on his proposals for responding to claims made by new town local authorities under section 51 of the New Towns Act 1981.

§ The Under-Secretary of State for the Environment (Sir George Young)
No representations have been received from the authorities concerned since the Department's letters of 13 October. I saw a group of hon. Members last Monday and had a most helpful discussion with them.

§ Mr. Newens
Does the hon. Gentleman not recognise that his refusal to meet more than a fraction of the cost of design defects in houses transferred to new town local authorities represents a gross breach of faith by the Government, in view of undertakings given in the past? Would not a commercial firm which attempted to renege on its liabilities be guilty of a flagrant breach of contract? Is the hon. Gentleman not prepared to make a more reasonable offer to the authorities which took over new town houses?

§ Sir George Young
The Government have made a generous and realistic offer to the new towns. The problem with Harlow is that 85 per cent. of its claim relates to maintenance items and, under the criteria for the assessment of claims, normal maintenance is not eligible for grant.

§ Mr. Dover
Will my hon. Friend confirm that local authorities in second and third generation towns are unlikely to have to make such claims, because the design of houses in those towns is much more traditional?

§ Sir George Young
I confirm that we do not expect the same problems on future transfers, for the reason that my hon. Friend has given. It is also worth saying that the new towns concerned have benefited financially from the transfer of the houses.

§ Mr. Dormand
Will the hon. Gentleman confirm that the new town with the worst problems is Peterlee in my constituency? Does he agree that Easington district council has followed his guidelines on rent policy, and will he tell us where he thinks the money will come from to pay for the vast number of repairs that will be needed? Surely this is a national, not a local, matter.

§ Sir George Young
The Government intend that expenditure that has to be incurred will be taken into account in the HIP allocations to the local authorities concerned. I think that the hon. Gentleman knows that I am meeting the Association of District Councils tomorrow, and I hope that the matter can be satisfactorily resolved.

§ Mr. Michael Morris
Is my hon. Friend saying in relation to third generation new towns that where properties are not built in the traditional way there may be a case for a claim?

§ Sir George Young
The Government hope that in many cases there will be management arrangements between the district council and the new town so that the council that takes over the properties will have experience of them before the transfer takes place. It will be able to assess the value of the properties and they can be repaired by the new town corporation before the transfer, thereby obviating the problems to which hon. Members have referred.

§ Mr. Graham
When the hon. Gentleman meets new town representatives tomorrow, will he temper his present mean offer with the reflection that the causes of the financial problems and disasters that will fall on local ratepayers and rent payers are no fault of theirs, but are due to a breach of faith by, among others, the Secretary of State for the Environment?

§ Sir George Young
That is not the case. The Government are under no legal obligation to make any offer in respect of these properties. We accept that there is a moral obligation and, in discharge of that, we have offered to pay 40 per cent. of admissible expenditure. In the light of the overall benefit to new town councils of the properties to be transferred, our offer is generous.