HC Deb 02 December 1985 vol 88 cc62-77W
Mr. Rooker

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will list the local authorities in England owning more than 40,000 dwellings, indicating the number for each authority;

(2) if he will list the numbers of housing authorities in England owning (a) between 20,000 and 30,000 dwellings and (b) between 30,000 and 40,000 dwellings.

Mr. John Patten

The authorities are listed below, with the numbers of their dwellings reported to my Department in their 1985 housing investment programme returns or 1985 subsidy claim forms.

Local authority dwelling stock—England
Local authority Number of dwellings at 1 April 1985
Local authorities owning 20,001 to 30,000 dwellings
Croydon 20,231
Ealing 20,318
Hounslow 20,406
St. Helens 20,438
Waltham Forest 20,600
Derby 21,100
Enfield *21,239
Tameside 21,287
Brent 21,615
Southampton 21,844
Rochdale 21,866
Plymouth 22,410
Westminster 23,163
Portsmouth *23,471
Norwich 23,541
Wirral 25,001
Haringey *25,342
Coventry 25,519
Bolton 26,193
Oldham 26,251
Knowsley 26,516
North Tyneside 29,006
Stoke-on-Trent 29,217
Local authorities owning 30,001 to 40,000 dwellings
South Tyneside 30,544
Newham 31,098
Barnsley 31,630
Barking and Dagenham 33,161
Camden 33,900
Wigan 33,983
Leicester 34,401
Rotherham 34,638
Doncaster 34,755

Local authority Number of dwellings at 1 April 1985
Kirklees 36,060
Gateshead 36,157
Dudley 36,930
Greenwich 37,014
Bradford 37,721
Walsall 38,750
Wandsworth 38,986
Local authorities owning over 40,000 dwellings
Wolverhampton 40,408
Islington 41,138
Bristol 42,082
Lewisham 42,207
Salford 42,502
Greater London Council 43,680
Wakefield 44,970
Hackney 45,807
Sunderland 45,872
Nottingham 45,919
Kingston upon Hull 46,730
Newcastle upon Tyne 47,037
Lambeth 48,850
Sandwell 56,046
Southwark 62,376
Liverpool *66,884
Sheffield 91,681
Leeds 93,004
Manchester *99,098
Birmingham 121,519

Difficult to let local authority dwellings—England
Local authority difficult to let dwellings at 1 April 1985 Difficult to let as percentage of local authority stock Change in difficult to let stock in 12 months to 1 April 1985
REGION—NORTH (EXCLUDING CUMBRIA)
Tyne and Wear
Gateshead 942 2.61 -1,829
Newcastle upon Tyne 4,014 8.53 100
North Tyneside 4,182 14.42 -92
South Tyneside 1,072 3.51 133
Sunderland 3,369 7.34 -425
Cleveland
Hartlepool 324 2.82 124
Langbaurgh 1,150 6.61 200
Middlesbrough 262 1.44 -108
Stockton-on-Tees 890 4.67 -385
Durham
Chester-le-Street 91 1.21 6
Darlington 0 0.00 0
Derwentside 0 0.00 0
Durham 328 2.85 -6
Easington 586 3.07 542
Sedgefield 56 0.37 -250
Teesdale 14 1.06 4
Wear Valley 505 6.12 -17
Northumberland
Alnwick 136 4.49 0
Berwick-upon-Tweed 0 0.00 0
Blyth Valley 305 3.02 0
Castle Morpeth 0 0.00 0
Tynedale 0 0.00 0
Wansbeck 539 5.59 -52
18,765 –2,055
* Figure from subsidy claim form, including dwellings owned outside the authority's area.

Mr. Hancock

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the number of empty council properties in each of the 13 districts in Hampshire on 31 October.

Sir George Young

Information for 31 October is not available. The numbers of their dwellings within their own areas, which were vacant at 1 April 1985 were included in the authorities' housing investment programme returns and are listed in col A 81 of the "HIPI (1985) all items print" which is available in the Library.

Mr. Rooker

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has for each housing authority in England as to the number of dwellings classed as difficult to let, indicating the percentage this figure represents of the authority-owned stock; and what are the changes in these figures compared with 1984.

Mr. John Patten

Local authorities' annual housing investment programme returns include numbers of dwellings owned within their own areas, which they class as difficult to let. Numbers reported are not necessarily comparable as authorities' criteria may differ. The total for England at 1 April 1985, including estimates for those councils which did not provide a figure, was about 320,000, 7.1 per cent. of the stock, and was 10,000 fewer than the estimate for a year earlier. The figures for each authority are as follows:

Local authority difficult to let dwellings at 1 April 1985 Difficult to let as percentage of local authority stock Change in difficult to let stock in 12 months to 1 April 1985
REGION—YORKS & HUMBERSIDE
South Yorkshire
Barnsley 6,008 18.99 -6.7
Doncaster 7,070 20.34 -475
Rotherham 2,500 7.22 0
Sheffield 4,437 4.84 -763
West Yorkshire
Bradford 1,550 4.11 0
Calderdale 1,776 11.17 720
Kirklees 3,050 8.46 50
Leeds 7,663 8.24 605
Wakefield N/A N/A N/A
Humberside
Boothferry 0 0.00 0
Cleethorpes 0 0.00 0
East Yorkshire 0 0.00 0
Glanford 0 0.00 0
Great Grimsby 700 8.40 0
Holdemess 51 2.00 0
Kingston upon Hull 603 1.29 -207
Scunthorpe 300 3.23 –50
The E. Yorks. Bgh of Beverley 79 1.45 -6
North Yorkshire
Craven 0 0.00 0
Hambleton 0 0.00 0
Harrogate 0 0.00 0
Richmondshire 0 0.00 0
Ryedale 0 0.00 0
Scarborough 650 8.66 0
Selby 0 0.00 0
York 545 5.10 -112
36,982 –855
REGION—EAST MIDLANDS
Derbyshire
Amber Valley 20 0.26 0
Bolsover 124 1.46 -90
Chesterfield 300 2.18 -84
Derby 2,739 12.98 250
Erewash 527 6.16 0
High Peak 519 8.30 -21
North East Derbyshire 121 1.08 -63
South Derbyshire 0 0.00 0
West Derbyshire 0 0.00 0
Leicestershire
Blaby 0 0.00 0
Charnwood 0 0.00 0
Harborough 0 0.00 0
Hinckley and Bosworth 0 0.00 0
Leicester 1,784 5.19 -2,100
Melton 20 0.71 0
North West Leicestershire 0 0.00 0
Oadby and Wigston 0 0.00 0
Rutland 0 0.00 0
Lincolnshire
Boston 60 1.02 0
East Lindsey 156 2.59 -9
Lincoln 600 5.71 0
North Kesteven 156 2.95 -2
South Holland 436 7.79 0
South Kesteven 0 0.00 -24
West Lindsey 149 2.99 17
Northamptonshire
Corby 0 0.00 -315
Daventty 0 0.00 0

Local authority difficult to let dwellings at 1 April 1985 Difficult to let as percentage of local authority stock Change in difficult to let stock in 12 months to 1 April 1985
East Northamptonshire 0 0.00 0
Kettering 10 0.16 0
Northampton 907 4.93 512
South Northamptonshire 6 0.13 0
Wellingborough 0 0.00 0
Nottinghamshire
Ashfield 736 6.82 -154
Bassetlaw 150 1.47 4
Broxtowe 210 3.06 -56
Gedling 132 2.22 -37
Mansfield 905 8.47 0
Newark and Sherwood 180 2.18 0
Nottingham 1,952 4.25 -380
Rushcliffe 0 0.00 0
12,899 -2,552
REGION—EASTERN
Bedfordshire
Luton 0 0.00 0
Mid-Bedfordshire 0 0.00 0
North Bedfordshire 0 0.00 0
South Bedfordshire 0 0.00 0
Buckinghamshire
Aylesbury Vale 0 0.00 0
Chiltern 48 0.93 -6
Milton Keynes 9 0.13 3
South Bucks 26 0.70 26
Wycombe 0 0.00 0
Cambridgeshire
Cambridge 0 0.00 0
East Cambridgeshire 66 1.30 -7
Fenland 160 2.86 0
Huntingdonshire 0 0.00 0
Peterborough 2,220 22.39 2,220
South Cambridgeshire 0 0.00 0
Essex
Basildon 450 7.48 0
Braintree 0 0.00 0
Brentwood 0 0.00 0
Castle Point 6 0.24 -1
Chelmsford 74 0.74 0
Colchester 0 0.00 0
Epping Forest 0 0.00 -373
Harlow 609 3.41 109
Maldon 64 2.52 0
Rochford N/A N/A N/A
Southend-on-Sea 0 0.00 0
Tendring 0 0.00 0
Thurrock 110 0.69 -290
Uttlesford 0 0.00 0
Hertfordshire
Broxbourne 0 0.00 0
Dacorum 420 2.53 4
East Hertfordshire 0 0.00 0
Hertsmere 173 2.13 0
North Hertfordshire 0 0.00 0
St. Albans 0 0.00 0
Stevenage 400 2.83 66
Three Rivers 0 0.00 0
Watford 0 0.00 0
Welwyn Hatfield 0 0.00 0
Norfolk
Breckland 160 2.08 18
Broadland 0 0.00 -12
Great Yarmouth 2,110 26.35 2,110
King's Lynn and West Norfolk 374 3.83 128
Local authority difficult to let dwellings at 1 April 1985 Difficult to let as percentage of local authority stock Change in difficult to let stock in 12 months to 1 April 1985
North Norfolk 0 0.00 0
Norwich 1,667 7.08 -61
South Norfolk 75 1.25 0
Suffolk
Babergh 50 0.95 -6
Forest Heath 0 0.00 -10
Ipswich 0 0.00 0
Mid Suffolk 0 0.00 0
St. Edmundsbury 343 3.76 -30
Suffolk Coastal 47 0.77 -9
Waveney 6 0.09 0
9,667 3,879
REGION—LONDON
Greater London
Greater London Council N/A N/A N/A
City of London 0 0.00 0
Barking and Dagenham 3,000 9.05 0
Barnet 0 0.00 -326
Bexley 36 0.32 0
Brent 5,435 25.14 435
Bromley 0 0.00 0
Camden 4,450 13.13 -300
Croydon 845 4.18 -15
Ealing 1,000 4.92 0
Enfield 1,261 6.32 0
Greenwich 7,000 18.91 0
Hackney 6,500 14.19 0
Hammersmith and Fulham 3,219 16.99 1,400
Haringey 1,550 6.41 0
Harrow 54 0.63 54
Havering 692 4.12 -108
Hillingdon 0 0.00 0
Hounslow 3,000 14.70 -500
Islington 8,500 20.66 1,900
Kensington and Chelsea 502 6.65 0
Kingston upon Thames 89 1.33 0
Lambeth 17,350 35.52 -650
Lewisham 7,000 16.58 0
Merton 0 0.00 0
Newham 0 0.00 -396
Redbridge 590 5.20 0
Richmond upon Thames 1,100 12.09 0
Southwark 14,000 22.44 0
Sutton 0 0.00 0
Tower Hamlets 2,500 13.39 0
Waltham Forest 3,000 14.56 -347
Wandsworth 7,575 19.43 0
Westminster City of 0 0.00 0
100,248 1,147
REGION—SOUTH EASTERN
Berkshire
Bracknell 25 0.24 25
Newbury 0 0.00 0
Reading 162 1.65 -40
Slough 0 0.00 -5
Windsor and Maidenhead 149 1.94 0
Wokingham 0 0.00 -28
East Sussex
Brighton 443 3.91 -17
Eastboume 343 6.67 -6
Hastings 0 0.00 0
Hove 68 1.49 -27
Lewes 136 3.06 136
Rother 175 4.28 -2
Wealden 0 0.00 0
Local authority difficult to let dwellings at 1 April 1985 Difficult to let as percentage of local authority stock Change in difficult to let stock in 12 months to 1 April 1985
Hampshire
Basingstoke and Deane 0 0.00 0
East Hampshire 0 0.00 0
Eastleigh 0 0.00 0
Fareham 0 0.00 0
Gosport 0 0.00 0
Hart 0 0.00 0
Havant 0 0.00 0
New Forest 99 1.36 -60
Portsmouth 200 1.33 -406
Rushmoor 122 2.19 122
Southampton 0 0.00 0
Test Valley 0 0.00 0
Winchester 0 0.00 0
Isle of Wight
Medina 3 0.09 3
South Wight 0 0.00 0
Kent
Ashford 684 7.71 239
Canterbury 114 1.56 42
Dartford 0 0.00 0
Dover 530 6.66 -70
Gillingham 0 0.00 0
Gravesham 0 0.00 0
Maidstone 248 2.78 -36
Rochester upon Medway 0 0.00 0
Sevenoaks 250 3.25 0
Shepway 9 0.20 9
Swale 568 6.64 -32
Thanet 0 0.00 0
Tonbridge and Mailing 0 0.00 0
Tunbridge Wells 0 0.00 0
Oxfordshire
Cherwell 150 1.78 0
Oxford 55 0.65 0
South Oxfordshire 174 2.23 0
Vale of White Horse 20 -0.31 5
West Oxfordshire 0 0.00 0
Surrey
Elmbridge 491 8.07 -45
Epsom and Ewell 0 0.00 0
Guildford 0 0.00 -80
Mole Valley 0 0.00 0
Reigate and Banstead 0 0.00 0
Runnymede 0 0.00 0
Spelthorne 0 0.00 0
Surrey Heath 0 0.00 0
Tandridge 1 0.02 1
Waverley 0 0.00 0
Woking 0 0.00 0
West Sussex
Adur 219 5.39 0
Arun 0 0.00 0
Chichester 0 0.00 0
Crawley 0 0.00 0
Horsham 0 0.00 0
Mid Sussex 58 1.16 -79
Worthing 2 0.06 -6
5,498 -357
REGION—SOUTH WEST
Avon
Bath 0 0.00 0
Bristol 0 0.00 0
Kingswood 0 0.00 0
Northavon 0 0.00 0
Wansdyke 0 0.00 0
Local authority difficult to let dwellings at 1 April 1985 Difficult to let as percentage of local authority stock Change in difficult to let stock in 12 months to 1 April 1985
Woodspring 250 2.80 -50
Cornwall
Caradon 0 0.00 0
Carrick 0 0.00 0
Isles of Scilly 0 0.00 0
Kerrier 0 0.00 0
North Cornwall 0 0.00 0
Penwith 0 0.00 0
Restormel 0 0.00 0
Devon
East Devon 11 0.18 0
Exeter 0 0.00 0
Mid Devon 0 0.00 0
North Devon 0 0.00 0
Plymouth 0 0.00 0
South Hams 0 0.00 8
Teignbridge 0 0.00 0
Torbay 0 0.00 0
Torridge 0 0.00 0
West Devon 0 0.00 0
Dorset
Boumemouth 0 0.00 0
Christchurch 209 11.73 -2
North Dorset 16 0.46 16
Poole 0 0.00 0
Purbeck 0 0.00 0
West Dorset 0 0.00 0
Weymouth and Portland 0 0.00 0
Wimborne 0 0.00 0
Gloucestershire
Cheltenham 0 0.00 0
Cotswold 0 0.00 -20
Forest of Dean 12 0.22 0
Gloucester 0 00.0 0
Stroud 76 1.00 -9
Tewkesbury 194 4.54 0
Somerset
Mendip 33 0.50 33
Sedgemoor 150 2.23 0
South Somerset 0 0.00 0
Taunton Deane 628 7.25 5
West Somerset 0 0.00 0
Wiltshire
Kennet 0 0.00 0
North Wiltshire 20 0.26 9
Salisbury 2 0.02 0
Thamesdown 601 4.17 -6
West Wiltshire 0 0.00 0
2,202 -32
REGION—WEST MIDLANDS
West Midlands
Birmingham 18,150 14.94 150
Coventry 3,661 14.35 —823
Dudley 741 2.01 -37
Sandwell 1,808 3.23 -359
Solihull 246 1.48 -132
Walsall 7,000 18.06 600
Wolverhampton 2,572 6.37 -828
Hereford and Worcester
Bromsgrove 0 0.00 0
Hereford 274 5.29 274
Leominster 57 2.70 0
Malvern Hills 200 3.53 0
Redditch 629 6.20 345
Local authority difficult to let dwellings at 1 April 1985 Difficult to let as percentage of local authority stock Change in difficult to let stock in 12 months to 1 April 1985
South Herefordshire 0 0.00 0
Worcester 600 9.14 -30
Wychavon 0 0.00 0
Wyre Forest 225 2.84 -77
Shropshire
Bridgnorth 0 0.00 0
North Shropshire 125 3.43 -139
Oswestry 0 0.00 0
Shrewsbury and Atcham 316 4.38 -19
South Shropshire 86 4.46 2
The Wrekin 250 2.20 -50
Staffordshire
Cannock Chase 1,085 12.24 0
East Staffordshire 0 0.00 0
Lichfield 150 2.35 0
Newcastle-under-Lyme 1,000 8.08 1,000
South Staffordshire 0 0.00 0
Stafford 300 3.54 0
Staffordshire Moorlands 0 0.00 0
Stoke-on-Trent 2,000 6.85 0
Tamworth 271 3.45 0
Warwickshire
North Warwickshire 40 0.82 0
Nuneaton and Bedworth 267 2.83 0
Rugby 0 0.00 0
Stratford-on-Avon 0 0.00 -30
Warwick 152 1.89 -10
42.205 -163
REGION—NORTH WEST (INCLUDING CUMBRIA)
Greater Manchester
Bolton 2,271 8.67 -4
Bury 210 1.79 0
Manchester N/A N/A N/A
Oldham 1,730 6.59 -336
Rochdale 6,084 27.82 1,047
Salford 6,572 15.46 -507
Stockport 1,486 8.92 -164
Tameside 1,174 5.52 0
Trafford 955 6.66 0
Wigan 5,411 15.92 82
Merseyside
Knowsley 1,845 6.96 -351
Liverpool 16,642 26.23 -6,378
St. Helens 450 2.20 0
Sefton 2,381 13.09 -392
Wirral 1,030 4.12 180
Cheshire
Chester 900 10.36 90
Congleton 0 0.00 0
Crewe and Nantwich 74 0.86 -141
Ellesmere Port and Neston 0 0.00 0
Halton 470 4.77 -68
Macclesfield 503 5.84 0
Vale Royal 0 0.00 0
Warrington 1,316 9.97 80
Cumbria
Allerdale 352 5.39 0
Barrow-in-Furness 0 0.00 0
Carlisle 0 0.00 0
Copeland 218 3.32 -2
Eden 0 0.00 0
South Lakeland 0 0.00 0
Lancashire
Blackburn 2,452 17.44 -297

Local authority difficult to let dwellings at 1 April 1985 Difficult to let as percentage of local authority stock Change in difficult to let stock in 12 months to 1 April 1985
Blackpool 0 0.00 0
Burnley 1,511 20.57 -49
Chorley 131 2.99 -455
Fylde 0 0.00 0
Hyndburn 20 0.43 -2
Lancaster 541 9.59 0
Pendle 903 17.15 -229
Preston 387 3.37 -161
Ribble Valley 0 0.00 0
Rossendale 672 11.09 -2,128
South Ribble 0 0.00 0
West Lancashire 681 6.03 590
Wyre 0 0.00 0
59,372 -9,595

N/A=Not available.

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