§ Mr. Proctorasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he is satisfied with the progress of sales under the "right to buy" provisions of the Housing Act 1980 of the London borough of Waltham Forest within the Basildon constituency.
§ Mr. StanleyMy right hon. Friend and I are continuing to monitor carefully whether tenants of Waltham Forest council have or may have difficulty in exercising the right to buy effectively and expeditiously.
§ Mr. Bob Dunnasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will publish in theOfficial Report the number of local authority houses sold to sitting tenants since June 1979 for each of the borough and district councils in the county of Kent, and to the most recent date.
§ Mr. StanleySeparate figures on the number of sales to sitting tenants, as opposed to all sales of existing dwellings, were not collected in respect of the period April 1979 to March 1980. The available information is as follows:
Reported sales of existing dwellings by local authorities in Kent All sales Sales to sitting tenants April 1979-March 1980 April 1980-September 1981 Ashford 235 *250 Canterbury 124 229 Dartford 146 449 Dover 46 188 Gillingham 65 381 Gravesham 103 *284 Maidstone 262 551 Rochester-upon-Medway 473 854 Sevenoaks 81 †l36 Shepway 44 200 Swale 79 400 Thanet 287 †88 Tonbridge and Malling 186 228 Tunbridge Wells 162 *174 * April 1980-June 1981 only. † April 1980-March 1981 only.
§ Mr. Bob Dunnasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish in theOfficial Report the 435W number of applications made by tenants to buy local authority homes, and the number sold, in the city of Salford since the enactment of the Housing Act 1980.
§ Mr. StanleyThe City of Salford, as at the end of November 1981, had received 2,614 applications and had completed 23 sales under the right-to-buy provisions of the Housing Act 1980.
§ Mr. Kaufmanasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the assumption on council house sales for the year 1982–83 under-lying the Chancellor of the Exchequer's statement on public housing construction,Official Report, 2 December, c. 238.
§ Mr. StanleyNo final decision on this assumption has yet been taken, but our present estimate would be council house sales of the order of 165,000 in 1982–83.