§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give details of numbers, districts and regions where high-rise tower blocks have been sold to (a) tenants, (b) housing associations and (c) the private sector.
§ Sir George YoungThe Secretary of State's specific consent to the disposal of tower blocks is normally required only where the property is tenanted, or where the freehold is to be conveyed to a management company formed of the occupants. No disposals of the latter kind have involved tower blocks. Nine tenanted blocks, comprising 1,050 flats, were conveyed to the Stockbridge Village Trust in April 1983.
Information about the disposal of vacant blocks is not readily available because such disposals do not normally require my right hon. Friend's specific consent. My Department is however conducting research studies of some of these disposals and I will write to the hon. Member about this work.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many of the dwellings in excess of households are accounted for by second homes and homes unfit for occupation, respectively.
§ Sir George YoungIn England in 1981 there were estimated to be some 160,000 permanent second homes and some 1.12 million unfit dwellings. The figure for second homes is based on a sample survey conducted by Audits of Great Britain Ltd; that for unfit dwellings from the "English House Condition Survey 1981", part 1.