§ 10. Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received from the Association of District Councils and interested local authorities about the shortage of low-cost housing in rural areas; and what action he intends to take to alleviate this situation.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment (Mr. Tim Yeo)My right hon. Friend receives such representations from time to time. We recognise that there is a shortage of low-cost housing in some rural areas and have taken a series of measures to help to improve supply. We have substantially increased public funding for housing association schemes through the Housing Corporation's special rural programme and we recently announced an extra £50 million of credit approvals for rural local authorities for a new programme of low-cost housing. We have also amended planning guidance to permit development of low-cost housing for local needs on small sites not otherwise designated for housing.
§ Mr. WintertonDoes my hon. Friend accept that Macclesfield borough council is extremely prudent and responsibly run and has an excellent housing officer, but that there remains a grave shortage of low-cost housing in rural areas? Does he accept that our housing investment programme allocation is effectively wiped out by the capital receipts which are taken into account and that the usable portion of capital receipts will merely cover the repair and refurbishment of existing housing stocks? My Conservative-controlled council is unanimous in its view that we must be allowed to spend more of our capital receipts on providing something that is essential for the health of our area.
§ Mr. YeoI gladly join my hon. Friend in congratulating his borough council on the efficiency with which it manages its housing. The Government's policy on capital receipts is to redirect the major portion of them to areas where the housing need is greatest, which is not always the same as the area where the receipts arise. However, I share my hon. Friend's desire that rural areas should enjoy an adequate supply of low-cost housing. I commend to him and his borough council the opportunity that now exists for local planning authorities to release small sites in villages, which would not otherwise be designated for housing, for low-cost schemes for rent and for sale to meet local needs.
§ Mr. MorleyLow-cost homes are welcome in rural areas, but they do not deal with the real problem of the hidden homeless—people who are living with friends and relatives—or families who move to rural areas but cannot find accommodation. Many such people had their homes repossessed because they could not keep up with crippling mortgage repayments. They need low-cost rented accommodation and councils are in the best position to provide it. Will the Minister take off the artificial restrictions on local councils and allow them to use their capital receipts to provide a choice of homes to rent and to buy?
§ Mr. YeoWe have a comprehensive programme. I have already referred to the credit approvals that have been given to local authorities for use in rural areas. But the Housing Corporation programme, which will double its spending over the next three years, will go a long way to providing homes to meet the needs of the people whom the hon. Gentleman describes as the hidden homeless.
Less than one mortgage in 300 leads to a repossession, so it is hardly likely that repossessions are a major contributor to homelessness. Above all, I hope that the hon. Gentleman recognises the distinction between the people whom he describes as the hidden homeless and the people whom the public may think of as homeless—the rough sleepers to whom my hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning referred.
§ Mrs. CurrieDoes my hon. Friend agree that in areas such as south Derbyshire a great deal of land can be released for rural housing through opencast coal mining? Will he welcome, as I do, the efforts of the British Coal opencast executive to develop over 400 acres of land in the Cadley hill area? It hopes to provide housing, industrial sites, a golf course, an hotel and a bypass for the local village, all of which will be welcome. Will he ask the Secretary of State for the Environment to come and see the site when it is finished?
§ Mr. YeoI am grateful to my hon. Friend for her kind invitation. There is a great deal of scope for using land —especially land that has been reclaimed, perhaps with the help of derelict land grant—for imaginative housing schemes in areas where it is easy to obtain planning permission and where the scheme will be welcome to the local community.