§ Mr. Wheelerasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many vacant flats and houses there are in the ownership of the London borough of Ealing.
§ Mr. WaldegraveThe latest information available to the Department is for the council's vacant housing within its own area and is in the authority's housing investment programme return for 1 April 1986, which is in the Library.
§ Mr. Allan Robertsasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish the most recent list available from his Department's estate action team, of schemes where local authorities have disposed of empty dwellings to property developers; if he will state the purpose of this list, how it has been compiled, and how frequently it is updated; who has been sent a copy of this list; and why they have received a copy.
§ Mr. WaldegraveThe most recent list of schemes involving the disposal of local authority empty dwellings to private developers compiled by my Department is given in the table.
This information is gathered from local authorities and from developers, but is not necessarily comprehensive since local authorities are not required to seek the Secretary of State's consent or to inform the Department when they are disposing of empty housing at the best price.
This information is assembled by the Department as part of its routine assembly of factual material which is used to assist in the assessment of housing policy and performance. The information has been provided on 386W request to local authorities, housing developers and members of the public. The list is updated as and when new information is received.
Number of disposals of vacant dwellings since 1979 Local authority Number Birmingham 128 Bolton 50 Brentwood 10 Bristol 5 Burnley 111 Calderdale 96 Copeland 47 Crewe and Nantwich 2 Halton 38 Kensington and Chelsea 50 Knowsley 204 Lancaster 44 Langbaurgh 177 Lichfield 128 Liverpool 344 Macclesfield 5 Manchester 46 Newcastle 134 North Tyneside 150 Oldham 296 Preston 338 Reading 135 Rotherham 1 Rushcliffe 6 Salford 384 Sandwell 112 Sefton 378 Solihull 268 South Tyneside 150 Southwark 191 Stockport 4 Stoke on Trent 42 Stroud 1 Sunderland 546 Swale 14 Tamworth 41 Thurrock 90 Tower Hamlets 443 Trafford 156 Wandsworth 981 Warrington 52 Wear Valley 5 Westminster 10 West Lindsey 9 Wigan 99 Wirral 271 Wolverhampton 7 Total 6,799