Housing Stock (Hansard, 16 February 1994)

§ 6. Mr. Luff
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what further steps he plans to take to encourage local authorities to transfer their housing stock to housing associations.

§ The Secretary of State for the Environment (Mr. John Selwyn Gummer)
Twenty five authorities have so far transferred their housing, with the agreement of their tenants, and 18 more are programmed to do so between now and March next year. I shall encourage more to do so in the future.

§ Mr. Luff
Is my right hon. Friend aware of the real benefits that will start to flow in Wychavon, to the tenants of Wychavon council housing and to the homeless, following the decision of the Minister for Housing, Inner Cities and Construction to allow the authority's stock to be transferred to two housing associations? Does he share my concern about the propaganda from certain Labour-controlled local authorities and the Labour party branches of Maidstone and Thanet against such transfers? Does he agree that it is about time that the Opposition started to put the interests of tenants and the homeless above their petty ideology?

§ Mr. Gummer
When such a transfer was first made in my constituency, I had my doubts, but all I can say is that the experience of transferring local council housing in Suffolk, Coastal to Suffolk Heritage housing association has been uniformly good. In my surgeries, I find that far fewer complaints and many more congratulations are offered about the way in which local housing is run.
I hope that the Opposition will recognise that. I understand that some members of the Labour party realise that it is sensible, as it benefits the tenants and provides more homes for the homeless.

§ Mrs. Mahon
What can the Minister do about transferring the high-rise flats in Mixenden in my constituency, where asbestos has been found? The local authority cannot afford to pay for its removal. Would the Minister make special grants available if the property were transferred to a housing association?

§ Mr. Gummer
As the hon. Lady knows, a number of local authorities, many of them Labour controlled, are now joining in to decide how best to deal with such matters. [Interruption.] Opposition Members must try to realise that I am trying to be as non-party political as usual, and I shall continue to try and be so. I do not want to embarrass any of the hon. Lady's colleagues, but they are looking into the matter. If the hon. Lady has a particular problem about asbestos in a particular block of flats, I am happy to consider it.