Captain Duncanasked the Minister of Works if he will publish a table in the Official Report showing for each Metropolitan borough the number of houses totally destroyed by enemy action, the number partially destroyed but repairable and the number which has been repaired to date.
§ Mr. SandysOver 100,000 dwellings in the London Civil Defence region were destroyed or damaged beyond repair by enemy action during the course of the war. In addition, it is estimated that about three-quarters of London's 2,200,000 dwellings received damage of some kind. Fortunately a considerable proportion of this damage was of a minor character. Over 1,000,000 houses were damaged by rockets and flying bombs during the ten months' bombardment. The great majority of these houses have been repaired at least up to the emergency standard laid down last winter. Except in a few areas where the damage was most recent the remainder will have been dealt with by the middle of next month. Large numbers of these houses have, of course, been repaired up to a higher standard.
When this important stage has been completed we shall be left with two main tasks of house repair in London:
First, to repair the large number of dwellings which were so heavily damaged that they are not at present habitable; secondly, to finish off the remaining repairs on several hundred thousand houses which have so far not been repaired beyond the emergency standard. The Government intend to tackle the bulk 1901W of this work before the severity of the winter sets in. This is a very large programme which will continue to make heavy demands on our resources of building labour and materials. However, we regard the provision of some additional comfort to the bombed families of London as a very urgent task and one which must continue to have high priority until it is completed.
A table showing the position in each borough is being compiled and will be published shortly.