§ Mr. Barterasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs how many houses in England and Wales have been dealt with in the course of slum clearance; and how many people have been rehoused in each year since 1956.
§ Sir K. JosephThe following table gives the information required:
Year Number of houses demolished Number of houses closed under closing orders Number of people rehoused 1. *2. 3. 4. 1956 26,397 9,939 115,093 1957 36,652 10,363 159,223 1958 44,678 10,595 159,923 1959 48,841 11,364 156,642 1960 47,723 11,438 165,607 1961 52,234 12,096 165,838 1962 53,335 11,506 168,809 1963 53,290 10,892 162,066 363,150 88,193 1,253,201 The table, based on returns made by local authorities, includes in column 2 all unfit houses demolished as a result of action by housing authorities. These include some which have been recorded in earlier returns as having been closed under closing orders, and thus included in the figures of column 3.
Since January 1st, 1961, when a check on the extent of this double-counting was introduced, just over 8,000 of the properties shown in column 2 had previously been included in the figures which make up column 3. It is estimated that there were 14,000 houses in this category in the years from 1956 to 1960. Over the 407W period 1956 to 1963 therefore, it can reasonably be assumed that some 22,000 houses in all had been recorded twice in this way.
The actual total of houses in England and Wales demolished on one hand and closed but not demolished on the other, since 1956 is thus not the sum of the columns 2 and 3 totals (i.e. approximately 450,000) but something nearer 430,000
* The totals in Column 2 also include 14,739 houses which, although not unfit for human habitation or dangerous to health, have had to be demolished with unfit houses to make satisfactory clearance areas.