Affordable Housing (Hansard, 13 June 2003)

§ Mr. Edward Davey
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many affordable housing units in(a) rural districts and (b) extreme rural districts in England were (i) sold under right to buy and (ii) newly built in 2002; and what the net change was. [116845]

§ Mr. McNulty
In local authorities that are classified as rural and mixed rural, 7,508 local authority dwellings were sold under right to buy during 2001–02. New build of registered social landlord and local authority housing, in the same local authorities and during the same period, was estimated as £2,713. The resulting net change is minus £4,795, but this excludes any acquisitions of existing dwellings by registered social landlords.

§ Mr. Gray
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the provision of affordable housing in the South West. [118228]

§ Mr. McNulty
In 2003–04 funding available to the South West region from the Housing Corporation's approved development programme has increased by over 30 per cent. to £81 million. This increase forms part of the overall £500 million increase in Approved Development Programme (ADP) funding to registered social landlords (RSLs) for 2003–04.
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The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has established Regional Housing Boards in every region to advise on how housing investment should be distributed to target regional and local priorities from 2004–05. The Regional Housing Strategies will be based on the assessment of a range of evidence including need and will be consistent with economic and planning policy at the regional level.
Housing strategies being produced by the regional housing boards should be based on a robust and transparent assessment of the different housing needs of all parts of the region so that the housing needs in rural as well as urban areas are adequately reflected.

§ Mr. Gray
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the Regional Planning Guidance totals for affordable housing in the South West are; what funding is available from the Housing Corporation for 2003–04; and how many units that funding will provide. [118234]

§ Mr. McNulty
Regional Planning Guidance (RPG) for the South West (RPG10) published in September 2001 does not give precise targets for affordable housing. RPG10 advises that such targets should be identified in local authorities' development plans based on their local needs assessments. For monitoring purposes the RPG does, however, indicate that it expects the cumulative total of those local targets to be in the region of 6,000 to 10,000 dwellings of affordable housing a year.
The Housing Corporation's Approved Development Programme (ADP) is providing £81 million to the South West in 2003–04. The estimated ADP approvals in the region for the same year are at least 1,959 dwellings. Other public investment in social housing is provided through a number of channels including central Government funding for local authorities (the Housing Investment Programme), from local authorities' own resources, and neighbourhood renewal programmes.

§ Mr. Hammond
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the amount of public sector land for redevelopment sold at below market values since 1997 as a result of the inclusion of obligations to provide affordable housing on it. [118957]

§ Mr. McNulty
The market value of land for redevelopment will, among a number of factors, be affected by the applicable planning policy framework. Where planning policies seek the provision of affordable housing, this will be reflected in the market value. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has not assessed the amount of public sector land for redevelopment sold at below market values since 1997 as a result of the inclusion of obligations to provide affordable housing on it, nor is the information requested held centrally, which would allow such an assessment to be made, and it could be provided only at disproportionate cost.