Orders of the Day — Housing Shortage

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 17 October 1945.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mr Sidney Dye Mr Sidney Dye , Norfolk South Western 12:00, 17 October 1945

It falls to my lot to speak not only as a representative of an almost purely agricultural Division, but as one of the members of that great body of organised farm workers in this country, in the absence of my hon. Friend the hon. Member for North Norfolk (Mr. Gooch), who is in Canada at present on another job. I happened to go to the newspaper room just now, and saw a copy of our local paper in which I found, right on the front, a photograph of the first permanent houses which are being built in Norfolk. Just four weeks ago, my hon. Friend the Member for North Norfolk laid the foundation brick of this first pair of cottages which are now ready to be roofed in. Therefore, where the local authorities, even in country districts like Norfolk, are co-operating with the Ministry of Health, they can get on with all speed in erecting permanent houses for the people to live in.

The problem of housing in rural England lies in the fact that most of the farm workers' cottages in this country were built over 100 years ago. They are getting old, they are very small, many of them are damp and they are without modern amenities. Therefore, we want to know the extent of the problem. I remember that the right hon. and learned Gentleman the former Minister of Health asked for a survey of the housing conditions in rural England. As a member both of a county council and a rural district council for the past 10 or 12 years, I have taken a great interest in this matter. We find that the rural district council of which I am a member has already carried out its survey for just half of its district. This is the kind of result we have had in the Swaffham rural district. Already 1,166 houses have been surveyed, of which only 330 are found to be satisfactory. There are 123 in need of repair, 90 in need of improvement, 317 in need of reconditioning, and 296 to be condemned as quite unsuitable. The percentages are, accordingly, about 25 per cent. to foe condemned, 27 per cent. in need of reconditioning, and only about30 per cent. that can be described as satisfactory. In that will be included for the whole district—these figures apply to only half—230 houses which the council themselves have built in the 30 years preceding the war, so that of the non-council houses a very small percentage can be classified as satisfactory.

This indicates something of the extent of the problem which is facing us, at any rate in the Eastern counties of England, for this particular rural district of Swaffham is typical of many others. I know that the problem in adjoining rural districts is much the same, and the proportion is much the same. This rural district council built 230 houses in the 30 years from 1914, but on the figures alone for those houses which are now to be condemned, about 600 houses will be required to meet the immediate needs. In addition to that, we all know of a large number of people who have married in these last five or six years, and who are still living with their parents and with families, so that for this particular district, as the Service people come back, if one adds to the figures for condemned houses, those which are needed by young married people, there will be an immediate requirement of 700 houses, although only 230 were built in a period of 30 years. That gives some extent of the urgency of the problem, and the need for speeding all means of meeting it.

The 317 houses in need of reconditioning, hon. Gentlemen opposite may say, are an argument against the decision of the Minister of Health not to continue the particular Act dealing with that. I do not think so. Whose needs come first? Obviously those who have no house at the present time, and who need a new house. Next in order of priority ought to be those in the houses which are to be condemned, those which cannot be reconditioned. Then we come to the problem of reconditioning these 317 houses in half our district. The inspector proposes that in many instances two of these houses will have to be turned into one. Therefore, there must be the new houses before a start can be made on this problem of reconditioning, so I say that the decision of the Minister is a very wise one. By all means direct all available labour and material into the task of building new houses, and see that we get our proportion of that in the villages of England, those which have been so sadly neglected in the past, where people, living in a land where they should be well fed and able to enjoy a healthy life, are often not enjoying that great privilege. In coming to his decision to concentrate on the building of new houses, the Minister has been wise. He is also wise in deferring his decision about reconditioning the old houses for some very solid reasons. Hon. Members will realise that town and country planning schemes have not yet come into full operation, and it would be very unwise to start reconditioning certain buildings if they did not fall within the plan of the town and country planning committee. That must be advanced a little further, before it can be decided on a large scale which houses should be reconditioned, and which should be pulled down.

Further than that, those people with whom I have been associated have very strong opinions on this question of reconditioning. We do not object to the reconditioning of a cottage which can be described as a free cottage, but we do object to the Government and the local authority being called upon to subsidise the reconditioning of tied cottages. I think our view is sound in that respect. The right hon. Gentleman the late Minister of Agriculture said that the whole of the benefit in these reconditioned cottages accrued to the occupant. That may be his point of view, but I know, and every farm worker in the country knows, that when money is spent on reconditioning tied cottages, it adds to the value of the farm or estate on which those reconditioned cottages stand. Therefore, you are subsidising and improving the value of the farms or estates on which they are being reconditioned. You are also making them of greater value both to the tenant and the owner, because in times of housing shortage such as to-day those who can say, "Here is a job and here is a house" can get labour, and those who cannot offer a house cannot get the labour.

It seems unfair to call upon the nation to subsidise the reconditioning of cottages the owners of which are very rich people and often own their estates because of the value of the shooting which they get from them. This is not simply a case of aiding farm workers to live in better cottages. There is a great deal more hanging on it. Therefore, not only do we object to the expenditure of public money on reconditioning tied cottages but we also make a plea for the freedom of the farm worker when he is in his own home. If there were only a few tied cottages in a village, it would not be much of a problem, but in village after village one finds 90 per cent. and in some cases 100 per cent. of the cottages are tied. When the occupant leaves his job and wants to change he has to change his house as well.

I have recently had brought to my notice a case of a person who was injured in the course of his employment on a farm. Because of that injury, he was unable to continue working on the farm. He had to seek lighter work elsewhere, with the result that legal proceedings are being taken in the court to eject him. This hardship operates not only in the case of a workman moving of his own accord to another employer and then being turned out of his house, but also possible when injury is sustained on the farm. On Monday of last week I, as a member of my rural district council, was called to go to the village of Beachamwell to inspect a pair of cottages which had recently been reconditioned and turned into one. When we had finished our inspection, we were asked to go to look at some houses which had been left by the search light station because the schoolmistress in that particular village had to be turned out of her cottage to make way for a milkman. Her husband had previously worked on the farm, and now that he is unable to do so they are not wanted in that particular house. It is a very undignified position in which to put a schoolmistress. You get these cases in which there is that hold not only over the man but also over his home.

I ask the Minister of Health, before he goes into any scheme for reconditioning rural cottages, to recondition only those cottages which can if necessary be transferred to public ownership, and in such cases to make sure that in all respects they are fit for human habitation. In the past, under the operation of this Act, I have known of many cases where grants have been given to reconditioned cottages, but when the job has been done they cannot by any stretch of the imagination be described in all respects as fit for human habitation for another 20 or 30 years. In fact, some of the cottages which have been reconditioned since 1933 have gone into disrepair and have tumbled down. Yet the Government and the local authority had to give grants. There are now others in addition to these figures which I have given to the House. Far greater consideration must be given to this particular problem, before we can be satisfied that the reconditioning of rural cottages is satisfactory in all respects.

I do not wish to take up too much time of the House, but there are other aspects of this problem of housing in the rural areas which I would like to bring briefly to the notice of the House. Not only would we like to see the speed of this house-building programme accelerated, but in many of the villages there is a character by reason of the use of local materials and the craftsmanship of the people engaged, and we want if possible, in this great task which means rebuilding more than half of rural England, to preserve that character as far as possible. I would like the Minister to develop more of the local resources for making bricks and for the use of flint and stone and other local materials. We do not want to see a standardised house built all over the country. Make use of local material as far as possible, and, if you can, make use of more of the Swedish timber houses which are being brought into the country. I have seen the specifications and have discussed them—