Housing, Scotland

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 18 June 1947.

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Photo of Mr William Snadden Mr William Snadden , Kinross and Western 12:00, 18 June 1947

The hon. Member for Dumbartonshire (Mr. McKinlay) said there was a danger of repetition in these housing Debates, and although I am inclined to agree with him, I do not make any apology for repeating what has been said many times before, because the arguments which have been put forward today have been powerfully reinforced by various reports which have been published recently. The hon. Member for North Edinburgh (Mr. Willis) seemed to be complacent and pleased with what the Government have achieved. I suggest to the Secretary of State that the Government have achieved nothing in the rural areas. Up to now, nothing has been said about the countryside, and as it is about time we heard a little about it, I am glad to have the opportunity of talking about some of the questions which affect us in the rural areas.

In my opinion the position in the rural areas today is so serious as to threaten what is, together with coal, the most vital need of this nation. I am referring to the production of food, and anyone who has studied the Scottish Economic Survey will see that Scotland's share of our total food production is out of all proportion to the acreage available. It produces 25 per cent. of our fat stock, 20 per cent. of our potatoes, 75 per cent. of our oat products, and 141 million gallons of milk. The whole of that food programme is being gravely threatened at the present time from three different directions. It is being threatened by dwindling dollars in the import field, by the heavy handicap of storms, shortages of machinery and feeding stuffs, and double summer time. On top of all that, the rural areas dependent on agriculture are becoming gravely short of manpower.

I do not think that it is realised that the labour position in our countryside is probably the worst we have ever known. Today one-fifth of the male workers engaged in Scottish agriculture are under 20 years of age, compared with one-third 15 years ago. I would point out to the right hon. Gentleman that in the countryside of Scotland there is a shadow hovering over the rural areas which is kept from settling, simply because we still have the Control of Engagement Order or, more specifically, the Essential Work Order operating within the industry. The control of agricultural labour cannot go on for ever. When it is lifted there will not be a drift in labour, there will be a surge of labour, from the countryside, unless we produce more new houses, and unless we bring existing houses up to the housing standards of the towns. Further, it is universally agreed that in the future economy of our country agriculture will play a very much greater part than it has done in the past. We cannot live on excessive imports, either strategically or financially, and if we are to enjoy a higher standard of living, then there must be a much greater demand on our home production and home farms than we have ever known before in this country.

All that means more, not less, labour; more and not less rural population, and, consequently, more houses than are apparent today. What is the position in the rural areas? We find that in the report on "Modernisation of Our Homes," produced by the Scottish Advisory Committee, and in the housing returns, that in the landward areas of Scotland local authorities have approved sites for 50,000 houses, about 48,000 permanent and 11,000 temporary. These houses would accommodate about 177,000 persons. I think that can be regarded as the minimum need of new houses in the rural areas. Paragraph 70 of the report of the Scottish Housing Advisory Committee states that there are in Scotland 405,000 houses without proper sanitary accommodation and it further states, in Table 3, that there are some 291,000 houses in the cities, large and small burghs which are without individual water closets. The difference of 113,000 houses can be taken, roughly, as representing in the rural areas of Scotland houses without proper sanitary conveniences. I calculate that those houses represent some 330,000 persons.

If these figures are considered together with the figures quoted in the return, we have a rural population of about 500,000 people whose housing needs have still to be satisfied. I think that the Secretary of State will agree that that is a deplorable situation. It does not really matter who is to blame for all this. It is silly to argue who is to blame. When the war came we did not argue about who was to blame for bringing the war about, and we did not take up the attitude that we should not make any attempt to fight because of that. We fought and we won. We have to fight this battle of housing in the same spirit and leave the recriminations to those who care to waste their time that way.

Looking at this from the rural point of view, I suggest to the Minister that he cannot get away from the logical argument that this battle has to be fought on two fronts simultaneously. The first is the building of new houses, and the second is the modernisation of existing houses. Mention has been made of the Housing (Rural Workers) Act, and therefore I suppose I shall not be out of Order in mentioning it. If 177,000 people have to wait for new houses, the 330,000 living under insanitary conditions cannot hope for improvement unless the existing houses are brought up to the approved standard. How is the battle going? Out of 7,521 permanent houses completed in Scotland only 475 are in predominantly agricultural areas. Of 15,208 temporary houses completed; only 3,000 are in the predominantly agricultural areas.

In the great agricultural counties of Aberdeen, Perth, Angus and Berwick—the four leading arable counties—only 80 permanent houses have been built When I look through the complete list of the 33 counties of Scotland I find that no fewer than 14 of the local authorities have built no houses at all. Finally, if we add up all the houses, temporary and permanent, completed or under construction by all agencies, including private enterprise, we have a total of 17,775 houses in the landward areas. If I were to go the length of assuming, quite unwarrantably, that all these houses would be completed this year, it would take eight and a half years to achieve even the minimum requirements of new houses in the rural areas. That is nothing like good enough to cope with the needs of an expanding agricultural industry and to fulfil the promises contained in the Agricultural Bill. Our labour on the land will be away long before those houses are completed.

The Secretary of State, I think, would admit that he was driven by hard economic considerations and the prospect of an even lower standard of living in this country when he made the announcement in regard to the boo steel houses for the rural areas of the South-West of Scotland. I applaud him for having taken that step, but these steel houses are going only to one area. Today milk is first priority and, therefore, logically, they should go to the dairy areas. I believe that milk is being over-done and that what is needed for the workers to increase production is not milk, but meat. We have, therefore, to think of the meat producing areas as well. What about the great agricultural areas of Aberdeen. Angus, Perth and Fife? Are they not to have any of these steel houses? It is very discouraging to them to be told that this first allocation is going to one area and all the rest are to be neglected until such time as the Minister can do something for them.