§ Mr. Heddleasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will now publish the results of his Department's inquiry into the condition of local authority housing stock; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Kenneth BakerA report setting out the main results of this inquiry has been published by my Department today. I have placed a copy in the Library. Other copies are available in the Vote Office. Local authorities' responses to the inquiry indicated that in their view some 84 per cent. of their properties require some renovation or repair work: and that, on the basis of their estimates, the total cost of all the work they believe is needed would be £18.8 billion.
This is the first occasion on which any Government have commissioned such an inquiry. We did so because of our concern about the condition of the local authority stock and because we considered it helpful to have more detailed and comprehensive information on both the nature and scale of the problem. We now intend to discuss the results with the local authority associations. My Department is ready to help with the exchange and sharing of information both on renovation needs and possible solutions, including technical advice from my Department's Building Research Establishment.
The renovation problem has been accentuated by the telescoping of disrepair arising out of the natural aging of the pre-war housing stock and the unexpected structural problems now emerging in the non-traditional and postwar stock. Some of these problems are emerging in buildings which have been up less than 20 years. But these problems have not developed overnight and will have to be tackled in a measured way over a number of years. Not all the work is equally urgent or important: I therefore expect authorities to continue with their present efforts to identify priorities and to tackle the most urgent work first.
I should also stress that I look to local authorities to examine renovation options carefully. There is growing scope for private finance, and for imaginative solutions to problems of housing renovation and management, in consultation with tenants. Tenants are concerned not just with the physical fabric of estates and the facilities within their own homes, but with how estates are managed and, indeed, all the factors which affect the quality of their lives. The legislation we shall be bringing forward during this Session will encourage these initiatives. My Department's urban housing renewal unit, which was set up in June, is making good progress in discussing with authorities ways of introducing private finance and other measures to improve the quality of life for tenants.
In addition to all these measures to revitalise rundown council estates, it is clear that local authorities will need some additional public expenditure resources to deal with the problems identified by the inquiry. I am making a separate announcement about this today.