Rented Housing in Rural Areas (Hansard, 3 June 1991)

§ The Minister of State, Department of the Environment (Baroness Blatch)
My Lords, the Government have taken a variety of measures to boost the supply of low-cost housing in rural areas. We have increased public resources through the Housing Corporation, including a new special rural programme, and allocated extra credit approvals to rural local authorities this year. We have also amended planning guidance to permit development of low-cost housing for local needs on small sites not otherwise designated for housing.

§ Lord Dean of Beswick
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for that reply. However, is she aware that although the measures the Government are taking are welcome, the people in this difficult position do not accept that they adequately meet the present need? Is the Minister also aware that in some rural communities the opportunity for young couples to rent low-cost housing has disappeared completely? The situation is so bad that the clergy in those areas are saying there is a danger of communities breaking up if accommodation is not found quickly. Although the Minister's reply appears to be sympathetic, it is not of an innovative nature. Therefore, will she again look at the problem?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, I can assure the House that the Government will continue to look at what is an area of concern. However, there are a number of measures in addition to those I have mentioned in my first Answer; for example, £50 million has been allocated to local authorities this year for low-cost housing. There is also a special rural programme where the number of houses available in villages with a population of below 1,000 is set to rise to 2,250 a year. A number of measures are therefore being taken, but I do not wish my answers to seem as though we are detracting from the seriousness of the issue.

§ Baroness Gardner of Parkes
My Lords, can my noble friend comment on the statement reported in the press that the Government are considering giving guidance to local authorities to enable low-cost housing—I do not know whether for rent or for sale —to be built in places where otherwise normal planning permission might not be given?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, my noble friend is right to draw attention to that particular measure. In rural areas where land is not normally designated for housing that measure enables local authorities, under the exceptions policy, to designate areas for housing; thereby depressing the price of the housing and bringing low-cost housing to people who live in the country.

§ Lord John-Mackie
My Lords, does not the Minister agree that to stop selling council houses would help the situation? Many of these council house sales are not genuine sales. I cite a typical case where a family bought a council house in anticipation of the decease of the parents and the house was then dolled up and sold. Quite a lot of that goes on and it should be stopped.

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, the Government are not at all apologetic for the right-to-buy policy. I understand the noble Lords opposite also approve of that policy—or perhaps they have had a change of mind. Many people who have now bought their council homes would not normally have been able to buy on the open market. The Government believe that increasing home ownership to 69 per cent. of the home owning population is a very good thing.

§ Lord John-Mackie
My Lords, if the Minister will not agree to that, will she not agree to allow councils to use the money obtained from council house sales to build further houses?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, local authorities are spending 25 per cent. of their receipts on new build. In addition, the other three-quarters of that money is being used to reduce down debt, which frees up revenue. Also—I notice at least one eminent Back-Bencher on the other Benches nodding her head —allocations are made to local authorities where the needs are greatest.

§ Lord McIntosh of Haringey
My Lords, will the Minister reconsider her last answer? She rightly says that 25 per cent. of the receipts from council house sales are available for new build housing programmes. However, she then added that the remainder frees up money for revenue. It does not free money for expenditure on housing; that is controlled by the capital controls of government.

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, the noble Lord misunderstood me. Where debt is reduced by the application of the other 75 per cent. it inevitably releases revenue because it reduces down debt, which reduces the need to service the debt. The Government allocate the equivalent of the other three-quarters to those areas in the greatest need.

§ Lord Molloy
My Lords, will the Minister explain a little further? Are those people who have bought their council houses people who probably could not have bought them on the open market? These people still cannot buy houses on the open market and there are now very few council houses left, even to rent.

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, the point that the noble Lord makes, though interesting, is not an argument against the right-to-buy policy.

§ Lord Dean of Beswick
My Lords, is the Minister not aware that what noble Lords on this side are saying is that there should have been a building programme running at the same time over the past 11 years to replace the houses being sold. Why has it taken the Government so long to heed the warnings they have been given, instead of ignoring them?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, the noble Lord is comparing local authority built houses with houses that are provided from a variety of sources. Whether it is housing corporations through the housing associations, the private sector, or local authorities, the house building programme has been buoyant throughout the past 11 years.

§ Lord Dean of Beswick
My Lords, what advice would the Minister give to a young couple living in a rural area with their parents where there were no houses to let and they cannot afford to buy?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, I accept that it is not easy for young people to get into the house buying market. However, it may be helpful if I set out some of the initiatives which the Government have put in place in order specifically to help people at the lower end of the income scale. Funding to the Housing Corporation will rise from £1.1 billion to more than £2 billion by 1993. The Rural Development Commission has a further £337,000 which is specifically to help people start to buy their own homes. An extra £50 million has been made available to local authorities specifically for housing in rural areas. There is also the special rural programme for villages with populations below 1,000. A considerable number of measures are in place specifically to help people at the lower end of the income scale to own homes or at least to have homes to rent.