§ Mr. CorbynTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment on what authority officials in his Department recently phoned Gloucester district council with consent for a proposed voluntary transfer; and on what grounds the valuation of the sale was changed.
§ Mr. TrippierGloucester city council has not applied for consent to dispose of its housing nor could it do so before consulting tenants as required by schedule 3A to the Housing Act 1985.
On the instructions of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, officials informed the council that he continued to take the view that sales of tenanted council housing should be at tenanted market value; but that he would expect to be willing in this particular case to consider sympathetically any application from the city council for consent under section of the Local Government Act 1988 to assist a purchaser of its housing where the assistance was in respect of specified works on the property being transferred, firm arrangements were in place to ensure that it was used only in connection with those works and the amount of any assistance did not exceed £1,500 in respect of each dwelling.