§ 6. Mr. Peter Bruinvelsasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to seek to speed up the sale of council houses and flats within Leicester.
§ Mr. John PattenI understand that over 4,000 flats and houses have been sold under the right to buy in Leicester, but only 13 flats had been sold at the end of December 1985.
This low level of flat sales is a common pattern across the country. For that reason, the Government have announced proposals, contained in the Housing and Planning Bill, designed to encourage the sale of flats under the right to buy.
§ Mr. BruinvelsIs that not a shocking indictment of the Labour-controlled Leicester city council? It just does not care. In fact, it has sold only 12 flats and 4,300 council houses and there are still 34,400 council houses and flats left ready to be sold with 700 people waiting to buy them. Will my hon. Friend do everything in his power to give the people of Leicester the opportunity of owning something that should belong to them and not to the dreadful Labour-controlled council?
§ Mr. PattenI entirely agree with my hon. Friend. It is a pity that Leicester, like other councils — for example, Manchester and Nottingham — is paying so little attention to the aspirations of the people who live in its area. I wish that the controlling Labour group on Leicester city council had watched the recent Labour party political broadcast on television, which was a great paean of praise for home ownership and showed a welcome conversion to our policies.