§ Mr. Andrew WelshTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the number and location of Whitson-Fairhurst houses in Scotland; and what funds his Department has allocated to alleviate the problems inherent in this type of construction.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonInformation on Whitson-Fairhurst houses built for the private sector in Scotland is not held centrally. The number and location of such dwellings originally built for the public sector, including houses subsequently sold under right to buy, are shown in the following table.
Aggregate capital allocations are made to local authorities to enable broad programmes of work to proceed; funds are not allocated specifically for work on any one type of house. It is for individual local authorities to determine their own policies and priorities for investment in their own housing stock and for assistance to the private sector; and to programme capital expenditure accordingly within the resources made available. If councils identify a particular need for resources to cope with the inherent structural problems found in Whitson-Fairhurst houses then they should in the first instance include proposals for alleviating these problems in their housing capital programmes.
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Whitson-Fairhurst houses in Scotland originally built for the public sector District Number of houses Ettrick and Lauderdale 50 Roxburgh 50 Falkirk 100 Nithsdale 46 Wigtown 50 Dunfermline 154 Aberdeen 204 Inverness 100 Edinburgh 101 Bearsden and Milngavie 56 Clydebank 692 Cumbernauld and Kilsyth 84 Dumbarton 385 Hamilton 140 Kilmarnock and Loudoun 100 Monklands 200 Motherwell 179 Renfrew 80 Strathkelvin 66
District Number of houses Dundee 128 Perth and Kinross 150 SCOTLAND TOTAL 3,115 Note: These figures are estimates based on returns by local authorities as at February 1985.
§ Mr. Andrew WelshTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what research his Department has undertaken into methods of repairing or reinstating Whitson-Fairhurst houses; and what advice his Department gives to local authorities regarding approved methods of dealing with this type of house.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonThe Scottish Development Department has no programme of research into methods of reinstating Whitson-Fairhurst houses. The work which must be done to rectify the inherent defect in such houses is well known. The Scottish Development Department does not directly advise local authorities of approved methods of repairing such houses: authorities are aware that such advice is available from PRC Homes Ltd.