Homelessness (Rural Areas) (Hansard, 2 November 1988)

§ 6. Mr. Matthew Taylor
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what action he proposes to take in the light of the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux report concerning homelessness in rural areas; and if he will make a statement.

§ 12. Mr. Worthington
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what estimates he has made of housing need in rural areas.

§ Mr. Ridley
I have received this valuable report, which is now being studied. My officials will be meeting representatives of the association shortly to discuss the report's findings. On 5 July I published consultation papers on planning and low-cost housing in rural areas. I hope that the hon. Gentlemen have studied these.

§ Mr. Taylor
The Secretary of State may be aware that homelessness in rural areas in the south has nearly doubled since 1979. Does he agree that he sold the homeless down the river by yesterday's announcement that the Department of the Environment's housing budget will be slashed by 21 per cent., and that, of the council house receipts which he says he is putting back into housing, a full £500 million will be returned to the Treasury? Did he not wave the white flag to the Chancellor, rather than defend the homeless?

§ Mr. Ridley
In the hon. Gentleman's local authority, Carrick district council, in the first quarter of 1988, 34 households were accepted as homeless and there were 19 empty council houses. I do not believe that the figures support what he said. I agree that in many rural areas there is a shortage of planning permission to build houses for the people who want them. However, the hon. Gentleman seems to have failed to study the Department of the Environment's spending plans. If he had looked at them, he would have seen the Housing Corporation line rising to £1,328 million in 1991–92—an increase of 80 per cent.—for the provision of new low-cost housing for rent or sale. I will ensure that a sufficient proportion of that is allocated to rural areas.

§ Mr. Worthington
When will the Secretary of State realise that it is a shortage, not of planning permission for those who want to build houses, but of houses for those who already live in rural areas? The Secretary of State should realise that market forces will not deal with that problem and that it is essential for public action to be 1010 taken to ensure that low-cost houses are built, for purchase or rent, for people who legitimately want to continue to live in rural areas.

§ Mr. Ridley
I cannot give the hon. Gentleman the benefit of any knowledge that I have about Clydebank and Milngavie. However, I can tell him that in the south of England the problem is very much one of sites as well as houses. It is no good having more money for more houses if we do not have the plots on which to build them.

§ Mr. Steen
With regard to housing needs in rural areas, will my right hon. Friend confirm that, where there are properly constituted local district plans—following discussions between parish and district councils that have been confirmed by the Department of the Environment—and where the housing allocation for villages or towns has been reached, if the district council planning committee turns down a development application for more houses because it exceeds the local plan, on appeal his inspectors will be instructed to refuse that appeal because the local plan housing allocation has been exceeded?

§ Mr. Ridley
I do not instruct inspectors to do anything. They follow the pubished guidance and the published local plan, provided it has been properly adopted and is up to date. In the circumstances that my hon. Friend described, it is unlikely that they would overrule a planning committee on appeal. If such development were not allowed on appeal, it might—indeed, probably would—result in a shortage of houses in some rural areas, which is the cause of the problem.

§ Mr. David Martin
Is not one of the main problems of the shortage of houses in rural areas that those already living in such areas, and those representing them, strongly object to new proposals for development, while pushing them in the direction of cities that are already well developed, such as Portsmouth?

§ Mr. Ridley
I am afraid that there is much truth in what my hon. Friend said. Those of us who live in the pressure areas of the country—mainly the south—must come to terms with the dichotomy between the undoubted need for more houses and the need to find places to put them.

§ Mr. Madden
As the question concerns a report from the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux on the homeless, is the Secretary of State aware that in one fell swoop Bradford Tory council is proposing to stop funding a hostel for homeless—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. That is nothing to do with homelessness in rural areas.

§ Mr. Madden
There is homelessness throughout the rural areas of Yorkshire, and Bradford Tory council is proposing to stop funding that hostel. It is also proposing to withdraw funding from Bradford Citizens' Advice Bureau. As the Secretary of State made an urgent visit to Bradford in the past fortnight to praise the policies of Bradford Tory council, will he make urgent investigations to ensure that funding is made available to keep that hostel open?

§ Mr. Ridley
I was not expecting rural Bradford to arise from this question, but if Bradford city council is able to avoid wasting money extravagantly on unnecessary things, it will have more money to spend on the homeless and on securing more homes for people who need them.