HC Deb 25 June 1979 vol 969 cc2-3W
Mr. Rowlands

asked the Secretary of State for Wales (1) whether local housing authorities will retain 100 per cent. of revenues acquired by the sale of new council houses;

(2) whether individual local authorities which fail to sell any or only a small number of their dwellings in 1979–80 will be penalised by a cut in new capital allocation for 1979–80;

(3) whether, if receipts on the sale or council houses fall below their estimated £2.2 million in 1979–80, local authority capital allocations will be reduced accordingly.

Mr. Wyn Roberts

The method by which individual housing allocations will be adjusted to take account of the new arrangements is still under consideration. I can confirm, however, that if a housing authority sells council houses, whether or not they are new, it will be able to use its net receipts in addition to its revised allocations.

Mr. Rowlands

asked the Secretary of State for Wales what assumptions have been made in arriving at the estimated £2.2 million receipts from the sale of council dwellings in 1979–80 in respect of (a) the number of dwellings sold, (b) the average price per dwelling sold and (c) the number of dwellings sold in each local housing authority.

Mr. Wyn Roberts

The estimate represents an assumed £7 mililon proceeds of sales less an estimated £4.8 million from asociated lending to tenants. This is equivalent to about 1,000 sales at an average price of £7,000. No estimate is yet possible of individual local authority sales.

In 1978–79 some 1,200 houses were sold for £8.2 million, the net proceeds amounting to £2.7 million.