§ Mr. Richard Wainwrightasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what action he proposes to take to alleviate the problems that will be created in certain local authority areas, especially those with a high proportion of older low-cost housing stock, by strict adherence to current limits on council lending;
(2) what arrangements he is making to help prospective purchasers of older low-cost dwellings who are unable to obtain a private mortgage and who will be unlikely, because of the small total amount available, to obtain a local authority mortgage.
§ Mr. FreesonWe have tried to alleviate the difficulties in two ways. First, we have ensured that local authorities which have loaned on older properties in the past receive a proportionately larger share of the available funds, and second, we have included such dwellings among the priority categories for lending during 1976–77.
So far as there is a general problem created by the stortage of local authority mortgage finance, I am anxious that there should be much closer co-operation between local authorities and the building societies, and I am hopeful that the discussions which are going on between the Building Societies Association and the local authority associations will lead to an increase in the amount of lending by building societies on property previously considered to be suitable only for local authority mortgages.