§ Mr. Frank Allaunasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government what steps he will take to alter the trend to a fall in house and flat building by local authorities by 6,929 fewer being so completed in the first nine months of this year compared with last year, and 14,192 fewer being started.
§ Mr. MacCollThe decline of 9,300 in public completions in the first nine months of 1968 compared with the same period of 1967 is partly attributable to authorities rechecking designs following Ronan Point; but a record number of dwellings were under construction in the public sector at the end of September.
Public starts were down by 16,200 in the same period for three reasons: the programme was reduced last January; the renegotiating of contracts following devaluation led to fewer approvals in the early months of 1968 and thus to fewer starts later in the year; Ronan Point led many authorities who had already approved schemes for high flats to reappraise their design and thus to delay their start; and some councils who changed political control after the local 141W elections thought it necessary to review their predecessors' programmes
The Ministry's Principal Regional Officers are in regular contact with local authorities about maintaining their programmes.
§ Mr. Frank Allaunasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government (1) by what means he proposes to make good the reduction of 33,000 in the number of houses started in the private sector in the first nine months of 1968 compared with the same period last year;
(2) if, in the light of the reduction from 353,000 starts for new houses and flats in the first nine months of 1968 compared with 306,000 for the same period in the previous year, he will now give an approximate figure for the estimated number of completions in 1969.
§ Mr. MacCollIn the private sector, about 31,000 fewer houses were started in the fit-it nine months of 1968 than in the first nine months of 1967; in the public sector, the corresponding figure was about 16,000. In my opinion, the reasons for this include, in the private sector, a considerable number of dwellings started early last year in order to avoid development levy, but only lately proceeded with; and in the public sector, the reappraisal of certain schemes following the accident at Ronan Point.
I expect that the total number of completions in 1968 will be above last year's record figure of 404,000. I also expect that completions in 1969 will remain at a high level, but it is too soon to state a figure.