HC Deb 14 July 1988 vol 137 cc295-6W
Mr. Stern

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has any plans to amend the description of special adaptations to council homes which enable a council to refuse the right to buy.

Mrs. Roe

Paragraph 8 of schedule 5 to the Housing Act 1985 excludes from the right to buy houses and flats which have been altered in certain ways to make them suitable for occupation by disabled people. The Housing Bill does not amend these provisions, but if amendments are tabled they will be considered very carefully.

Mr. Ronnie Campbell

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish the totals of council homes completed by northern councils in each year since 1979; and what are the estimated totals for the next five years.

Mrs. Roe

The total number of dwellings completed by local authorities in the northern region (excluding Cumbria) for each year since 1979 is:

Number
1979 4,417
1980 4,344
1981 2,330
1982 1,476
1983 1,492
1984 1,462

Number
1985 1,177
1986 528
11987 445
1 First nine months.

Estimated totals for the next five years are not available. Estimates for the two forthcoming financial years were included in the local authorities' housing in 1987 and these totalled:

Number
1988–89 811
1989–90 1,509