§ Mrs. GoldingTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of the recommendations of the report "Homelessness in Rural Areas" by the school of advanced urban studies, Bristol, in collaboration with Acre, for the Rural Development Commission, on the case for restricting the right to buy and offering portable discounts in rural areas where restrictive planning policies apply; and what action he intends to take.
§ Mr. BaldryWe have no plans to restrict the right of tenants in rural areas to buy their homes. In certain designated rural areas current legislation allows landlords to impose restrictions on resale or permanent letting which favour local people, or reserve a right of pre-emption for 10 years.
We do not plan to introduce incentives in the form of portable discounts. The only purpose of these could be to compensate for the loss of the right to buy and we have no intention of preventing the exercise of that right by rural tenants.
§ Mrs. GoldingTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what action he intends to take on the findings of the report "Homelessness in Rural Areas" by the school of advanced urban studies, Bristol, in collaboration with Acre, for the Rural Development Commission in the incidence of homelessness in deep rural areas and the relative increase in overall rural homelessness.
§ Mr. BaldryWe will be reviewing our policy on the provision of social housing in rural areas in the light of research which we have ourselves commissioned. The proportion of the Housing Corporation's approved development programme going to the special rural programme, which is targeted on villages with populations of 3,000 or fewer, is to be increased from 5 per cent. in 1992–93 to 6 per cent. in 1993–94, and our policy of allowing development providing affordable housing in rural areas on sites which would not otherwise be available continues to bear fruit.