HC Deb 09 May 1973 vol 856 cc109-11W
Mr. Cockeram

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list box girder bridges and viaducts which have been closed or not yet opened to public use, and indicate when he expects each to be open without restriction.

Mr. Speed

No steel box girder bridges or viaducts have been closed to public use.

Steel box girder bridges and viaducts in the course of construction are listed below together with the estimated date of unrestricted opening.

borough, in the Greater London area heard by rent tribunals in which the rent has been decreased, or increased, in each of the last three years.

Mr. Eyre

The information is not available borough by borough, but for the whole of the Greater London area is as follows:

Number of cases in which rent was
(a) Decreased (b) Increased
1970 3,036 423
1971 2,880 682
1972 3,457 774

Mr. Thomas Cox

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the number of cases heard by rent tribunals in the Greater London area during the last three years in which the full limit of six months' security of tenure has been given.

Mr. Eyre

The information is not available in the form requested. Under Section 77 of the Rent Act 1968, six months' security was, however, available to tenants on subsequent issue of a notice to quit in the following number of cases heard:

1970 1,780
1971 1,852
1972 2,085
and, in addition, security was granted by rent tribunals under Section 78 in the following number of cases heard:
1970 3,780
1971 3,824
1972 5,874

The period granted in each case is not known, but on first applications was 3.5 months on average.

In all these cases, the rent tribunal may further extend the periods of security on reapplication, and the average security granted on a second application was 2.6 months.

Mr. Thomas Cox

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will establish a rent tribunal office in the London borough of Wandsworth, in view of the difficulties many residents find in travelling to the office which at present covers the borough, and which is at present in the London borough of Croydon.

Mr. Eyre

Neither the tribunal nor the London Rent Assessment Panel has received representations on this point, but if the hon. Member cares to let me have any details I will gladly invite the tribunal to consider the possibility of holding some hearings in Wandsworth.