§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what requests for additional resources to be spent on housing to reduce overcrowding and substandard living conditions he has received from each of the metropolitan county councils.
§ Sir George Young; My right hon. Friend has received a number of requests from local housing authorities for additional housing investment programme resources but none from metropolitan county councils, which are not housing authorities.
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what provisions he intends to make for the replacement of older housing as it outlives its economically usable life; and what guidelines he intends to issue to housing authorities to ensure that best value and habitable life from dwelling stocks result from housing investment programmes.
§ Sir George YoungIt is for individual authorities to decide on their own priorities for housing investment within the total resources available to them. The balance to be struck between rehabilitation and demolition followed by a new building will be discussed in the consultation paper following the Government's recent review of improvement policy, which will be published shortly.