§ Mr. Spearingasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what criteria he used to exclude certain houses in Drew Road, Silvertown, from the relevant compulsory purchase order; and what estimates he has made of the cost of rehabilitating each house thus excluded.
§ Mr. Ernest ArmstrongThe order in question was made under Part III of the Housing Act 1957, and my right hon. Friend therefore had to decide whether the properties covered by the order were unfit, and if so, whether clearance was the best way of dealing with them. The inspector who conducted the public local inquiry found that 18 of the 29 houses which were eventually excluded were not unfit, and that the condition of the remaining 11 houses could be more satisfactorily dealt with by improvement than560W by clearance. The cost of rehabilitation was a relevant factor only in the case of the 11 unfit houses, and my right hon. Friend was satisfied that this was a factor which the inspector took into account in reaching his professional judgment that the houses could be made fit for human habitation.