§ Lord HYLTONasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they are satisfied with the progress of Housing Action Areas since the Housing Act 1974;how many HAAs have so far been declared in Greater London and in each of the regions of Britain; how many houses 1199WA have so far been modernised in HAAs; whether they can estimate how many HAAs are now at the planning stage, and how many are expected to be declared in the coming five years.
§ Baroness BIRKThe answer to the first part of the Question is, Yes. Details of the numbers of HAAs notified respectively to the Secretary of State for the Environment, the Secretary of State for Wales and the Secretary of State for Scotland are as follows:
30 NOVEMBER 1975: HOUSING ACT 1974 Region Number of HAAs England— London 13 Northern 14 Yorkshire and Humberside 5 East Midlands — East Anglia — South East 1 South West 1 West Midlands 7 North West 11 Sub-total 52 Wales 17 Total 69
SCOTLAND 30TH NOVEMBER 1975: HOUSING (SCOTLAND) ACT 1974 Demolition Improvement Total Draft Resolutions 26 12 38 Final Resolutions 7 2 9 Information on the total number of houses improved in HAAs is not readily available, but I will write to the noble Lord. Estimates of the number of HAAs either now at the planning stage or expected to be declared in the next five years are available only from individual local authorities with whom statutory responsibility for the selection and declaration of suitable areas rests.