HC Deb 24 October 1984 vol 65 cc678-9
6. Mr. Lofthouse

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he expects more local authority houses to be started in the financial year 1985–86 than in 1984–85.

The Minister for Housing and Construction (Mr. Ian Gow)

It is up to local authorities to decide, within the resources made available to them, how many houses to start in each financial year. For that reason, the Department does not make forecasts of house building starts. Decisions about resources which will be made available for local authority housing next year have still to be taken.

Mr. Lofthouse

Does the Minister agree that since 1979 local authority housing capital expenditure has been cut by about 50 per cent.? Does he further agree that if that position continues we shall face a crisis similar to that in the 1960s? At that time, Governments were encouraging local authorities to go into the development of factory-built houses. Consequently, the nation is now facing a bill of about £10 million to demolish or repair those properties.

Mr. Gow

In the current financial year we have made available for public sector capital investment in housing more than £3.25 billion, of which the local authority share is £2.5 billion. The particular needs of each authority will be taken into account before my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State makes next year's housing investment allocations to each local authority.

Mr. Powley

Does my hon. Friend agree that, rather than continuing to build more new council houses, local authorities would do better employing the available resources to bring back into service those council house properties that have been left empty for many months and are a deteriorating eyesore in local communities?

Mr. Gow

I agree entirely with my hon. Friend. More than 25,000 local authority dwellings have been empty for more than a year—the majority in authorities controlled by the Labour party.

Mr. Hardy

Does the Minister accept that, because in recent years we have been clearing no more than between one five-hundredth and one one-thousandth of the housing stock annually, we are merely storing up enormous trouble for years ahead? As that is happening when there is high unemployment in the building industry, the practice can only be regarded as absurd and dangerous.

Mr. Gow

The hon. Gentleman overlooks the very substantial sums which the Government have made available for public sector housing this year.

Mr. John Fraser

The Minister is steering his Department towards a new slumdon and housing crisis, with the Chancellor of the Exchequer as the back seat driver. Has he not noticed the evidence of the Association of Metropolitan Authorities to the inquiry into British housing, that it will take 900 years to replace the present deteriorating stock, and that public expenditure on housing has now been cut by two thirds since 1979? I ask the hon. Gentleman to start to use a combination of both humanity and common sense and to put public expenditure on housing on to an upward trend to solve human problems and to provide employment.

Mr. Gow

The hon. Gentleman's memory is characteristically selective. He will remember that when he first entered the House he was a member of Lambeth borough council and that the system of control of local authority capital expenditure which then applied was far more detailed than is the case today. I also remind him that between 1974 and 1979, when he adorned the Labour Government, public sector investment in housing fell by 45 per cent. While this Government have been in power it has fallen by 17 per cent. The hon. Gentleman will also remember the letter which his right hon. Friend the then Chancellor wrote on 15 December 1976 following a cut of £1 billion in public expenditure under the Government of which he was a member.