§ Mr. Adleyasked the Secretary of State for the Environment for each of the last 10 years in England and Wales, what percentage of (a) newly constructed houses and (b) renovation of older houses has been undertaken by local authorities; and what percentage by private developers.
§ Mr. WaldegraveFollowing are the percentages of new dwelling completions in England for local authorities and new towns and the percentages for private owners; while most private housebuilding is for owner occupation, this is generally carried out by private developers.
Housing and completions, England Local authorities and new towns Private sector per cent, of all completions 1977 43.7 46.5 1978 38.2 52.8 1979 35.3 56.5 1980 36.5 53.8 1981 32.2 57.8 1982 21.0 71.6 1983 17.5 74.3 1984 16.5 75.7 1985 14.2 79.0 1986 11.1 82.9 Note: Other completions are for housing associations and Government Departments.
While information is available on the numbers of local authority dwellings on which improvement work is carried out each quarter, for the private sector only the number of grant-aided renovations are reported. Private developers may receive such grants if the dwellings are to be available for renting for at least five years, in which case they will be included in the reported numbers of grants paid to landlords (including housing associations) which have been about 16 per cent. of the grants paid in England in the 10-year period.
537WFor information on housebuilding and renovations in Wales, I refer my hon. Friend to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.