Mr. Robert G. HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether any decisions have yet been made regarding his proposals to abolish housing project control for local authorities.
§ Mr. WaldegraveMy Department and the Welsh Office have today sent to the local authority associations copies of circulars about the abolition of the present housing project control system for new building and renovation schemes. It will be replaced by a system of admissible cost limits which will not require the submission of schemes to the Department or the Welsh Office.
The change will reduce work both for local authorities and for the Department and the Welsh Office, and will allow authorities greater freedom to plan and implement their capital programmes more efficiently. It will also clarify their responsibility for achieving value for money in their housing schemes. The circulars and the new system which it describes are the product of extensive consultations with the local authority associations.