§ 8. Mr. Nicholas WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the condition of the construction industry with particular reference to the house building sector. [33940]
§ Mr. GummerThere is evidence of increasing activity in the housing market as the effects of our sound economic management work through to improve consumer confidence. We look forward to a continuing recovery this year.
§ Mr. WintertonI congratulate my right hon. Friend on his excellent and far-sighted speech to the Royal Town Planning Institute, and on highlighting the need to build more houses to meet the growth in household numbers, but is he aware that his wise words are falling on deaf ears, with county councils from Devon to Oxfordshire and from Hampshire to Cheshire ignoring the housing numbers required in regional guidance? Will he assure me that he will advise those county councils seeking to pass the housing buck that he will ensure that housing numbers in the structure plans are properly adhered to?
§ Mr. GummerI am sure that the House would want to congratulate my hon. Friend on his chairmanship of the Manufacturing and Construction Industries Alliance Ltd., which has been expressing these views. I am especially concerned that we use all the land that has already been used to rebuild in the centres of our cities. I am still concerned about many local authorities that are not prepared to put together the land and to create opportunities for private builders, to build in those circumstances. I am insisting that the amount of land that needs to be released because of the figures shall be so released.
§ Mr. DobsonThe Secretary of State said in his speech, to which reference has been made, that the Government were estimating that an extra 4.4 million homes would be needed just to meet the needs of new households in the next 20 years, and that that excludes the 1.5 million homes that need to be done up because they are unfit for human habitation. Is it not the case that we are building only 712 137,000 homes a year, which means that, at the present rate, the Government will fall 1.5 million homes short of their target? Would it not be a better idea if, instead of calling for national debates, the right hon. Gentleman got on with getting some houses built now, rather than talking about the far blue yonder, when he will not be in power because new Labour will be in new government?
§ Mr. GummerI had to give the hon. Gentleman an opportunity for the debate, because he has already contributed to both sides of it. First, he told the Union of Construction Allied Trades and Technicians that not enough houses were being built.
§ Mr. DobsonLiar.
§ Mr. GummerThen the hon. Gentleman told the Council for the Protection of Rural England that he would not build as many houses. [Interruption.] Oh yes.
§ Mr. DobsonLiar.
§ Mr. GummerI will quote the hon. Gentleman's words in case he forgets them:
we are looking at … shifting … from the present presumption in favour of development … 4.4 million households is a major threat to rural England.That is the opposite of what he said only a few days before. His speech to the CPRE was a disaster. It knows that the only defenders of rural England are Conservative Members, that the only people who protect the green belt are Conservative Members, and that new Labour means a new threat for the countryside of Britain.
§ Mr. Harry GreenwayOn a point of order, Madam Speaker.
§ Madam SpeakerI do not take points of order until after questions.
§ Mr. Greenwayrose—[Interruption.]
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. How can I hear what the hon. Gentleman is saying with everyone bawling and shouting? Do shut up until Mr. Greenway has said what he wants to say.
§ Mr. GreenwayI distinctly heard the Labour party spokesman use the unparliamentary term "liar" at least five times. Is that in order?
§ Madam SpeakerIs that the case?
§ Mr. DobsonI did use that word and I withdraw it.
§ Madam SpeakerI am obliged. The hon. Gentleman admits to using the word and it has now been withdrawn. Who was I about to call? I want somebody who can put a direct question. I call Mr. Coombs.
§ Mr. Anthony CoombsWill my right hon. Friend confirm that recent surveys by the Council of Mortgage Lenders and the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors show a significant improvement in sentiment in the housing market and considerably improved activity? Is 713 that not the result of sustained low interest rates? Is it not a bit rich for the Labour party, in the form of its shadow spokesman, to talk about improving consumer confidence when the last time the Labour party was in government there was an average rate of interest—
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. I remind the hon. Gentleman, although he should not need reminding, that Ministers of the Crown are responsible for their policies. They are accountable to the House not for anybody else's policies, but for their own actions. Let us now see if we can find a decent question somewhere. I call Mr. Tony Banks.