HC Deb 16 March 1945 vol 409 cc510-2W
Mr. Manninģ

asked the Minister of Works whether he is ready with a spring and summer programme for the repairing of bomb-damaged residential property in London; and will he make an early statement on the subject.

Mr. Sandys

Last September the Government declared its intention to repair up to a tolerable emergency standard 719,000 houses. The aim was to complete this winter programme by 31st March. Over 680,000 houses have now been repaired up to this emergency standard. This represents 94 per cent. of the target with two weeks more to run. During the last few weeks repairs have been proceeding at an average rate of about 40,000 per week. This is about double the rate last December.

Even when the winter programme is completed a large amount of further work will still remain to be done. Many houses in different parts of Southern England have been damaged by enemy bombardment during the winter months. Some of these have been repaired as part of the winter programme, but the majority have only received field dressings and are waiting to be tackled. The state of repair in parts of Southern England is therefore still far behind that achieved in most other parts of the country. Until the areas affected have been brought up to the standard of the rest of the country it will be necessary to retain on this work a large labour force including a substantial number of men from the Provinces.

For the purposes of this further repair programme the affected parts of Southern England fall into two categories:

  1. (a) First Priority Areas, i.e. those areas which have suffered further damage since last September and in which there is a substantial number of houses which have so far received "field dressing" attention only.
  2. (b) Second Priority Areas, i.e. those areas where all or almost all occupied houses have been repaired up to the emergency standard.

Labour will be drafted into the First Priority Areas up to the maximum which they can absorb. For this purpose it will, in so far as is necessary, be withdrawn from the Second Priority Areas. The labour which will remain available for repairs in the Second Priority Areas will be distributed among them according to their needs. In the First Priority Areas repairs will be limited to the emergency standards which have been in force during the winter months. Occupied houses will normally by tackled first.

As soon as the winter targets have been completed in Second Priority Areas permanent repairs up to but not including the decoration stage will be authorised. In so far as they are available the materials to be used for these repairs will be of a quality acceptable for final reinstatement (for example, clear glass instead of opaque glass, plaster and plasterboard instead of laminated board). Certain materials are, however, still in short supply. In a proportion of the houses dealt with some substitutes will, therefore, still have to be used. Local authorities in these Second Priority Areas will have to decide, in the light of local conditions, the order of priority in which houses will be further repaired. The aim will be to increase as quickly as possible the number of units of family accommodation. This can best be achieved by the repair of the less heavily damaged unoccupied houses which have hitherto not been tackled and by the repair of spare rooms in houses which normally accommodate more than one family. The actual programme of repairs to be undertaken in each area will be agreed between the London Repairs Executive and the local authorities on the basis of a rough survey. This further programme of work will be directed as hitherto by the London Repairs Executive, who will continue to be responsible for the allocation of labour, the control and allocation of building materials and general decisions of policy.