HC Deb 01 March 1990 vol 168 cc380-1
13. Mr. Kirkhope

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what action is being taken to improve housing in rural areas; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Peter Bottomley

I am determined that the problems of rural unfitness shall be tackled successfully. The Northern Ireland Housing Executive has now identified rural priority areas containing high concentrations of unfit rural housing. Rural action teams are being set up to provide increased assistance and advice to home owners so as to achieve improvements.

Mr. Kirkhope

I congratulate the Government on the overall level of grants for housing in Northern Ireland. Has the Minister considered the feasibility of replacement grants for rural dwellings?

Mr. Bottomley

The staff of the Housing Executive will welcome the tribute that my hon. Friend has paid, in effect, to its work and to its proposals which have been adopted. Just replacement would destroy some of the heritage, so that is one Housing Executive proposal that we have not automatically adopted.

Much of the work of the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society in trying to make sure that it is possible to rehabilitate housing in rural areas and elsewhere is greatly welcomed.

Perhaps we can find an effective way of giving people in rural communities a proper choice, rather than saying that their old homes must be swept away.

Mr. Hume

May I welcome the Minister's statement congratulating the Housing Executive on the work that it has done, particularly in urban areas? Will he acknowledge that public representatives of my party have repeatedly made representations about the unfitness of rural housing, and particularly about the suggested replacement grant? We have also suggested an integrated rural development plan—including industry—based on agriculture, alternative land use and tourism. Have the Government submitted such a plan to Brussels in the context of the five-year development programme?

Mr. Bottomley

First, I shall do as the hon. Gentleman asks and pay tribute to the constructive suggestions that have come from his party and from other legitimate parties in Northern Ireland. The practical suggestions that have been put forward are being considered.

I do not want to go into too great detail, but my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State's initiative, in putting the departmental committee together, will bring forward ideas for rural improvement that will ensure that the work of the Government and their agencies will be better co-ordinated, so that there is a real improvement in rural areas, especially for women.

Mr. Stott

May I also pay tribute to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive for the way in which it has developed a non-sectarian lettings policy and genuinely improved housing in Northern Ireland, especially in the towns and cities? Can the Minister expand a little on what plans he has to stop the depopulation of the rural areas in which housing is an acute problem?

Mr. Bottomley

I am grateful for that Opposition tribute to the Housing Executive. It has achieved some dramatic changes over the past 10 or 20 years.

It is not for the Government to decide how many people should live where. It is for the Government to find ways of helping people to earn their prosperity.

That is the key to people going to live in rural communities and keeping the infrastructure—schools, hospitals and so on—going, so that people have a better life. We do not want a flight to Belfast or Derry.