§ 5. Mr. Nellistasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has as to the numbers of houses in Coventry unfit for human habitation, substandard or requiring major repairs.
§ Sir George YoungCoventry provides its assessment of stock condition as part of its annual housing investment programme return.
Its summary for both public and private stock as at 1 April 1985 was as follows: number of unfit dwellings, 939; number of fit dwellings lacking standard amenities, 5,409: number of non-substandard dwellings in need of renovation, 13,644.
§ Mr. NellistConsidering that the Minister has recently visited Coventry, South-East, is he not aware that the appalling figure of over 20,000 houses represents almost one in six of all private and public houses in the city of Coventry? Is it not true that the cuts of almost £100 million in the past seven years in rate support grant for Coventry has meant that for five years the Labour council has not had the money to start to build a single council family house? Does he accept that the thousands of families who live in those houses in Coventry, apart from welcoming the resignation of his Government, could do with an injection of capital for the building of decent houses for people and providing proper jobs for workers?
§ Sir George YoungThe hon. Gentleman mentioned cuts, but the figure for expenditure on housing by Coventry was £13.4 million in 1982–83 and £19.8 million in 1985–86. Therefore, there have not been dramatic reductions in capital investment on housing by Coventry. I very much welcome the initiatives that Coventry is now at last beginning to take to interest the private sector in helping to tackle some of the problems mentioned by the hon. Gentleman.