Mrs. Joyce Bulter:

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he will introduce regulations to prevent the use of powered sewing machines for business use in residential premises.

No, Sir. There are powers in the Town and Country Planning Acts under which the use of residential premises for industrial purposes may be controlled; and in the Public Health Acts, recently strengthened, to secure the abatement of noise and vibration where this amounts to a statutory nuisance.

Mrs. Butler:

I accept that complete prevention would probably cause dislocation in some parts of the clothing trade and that this would be wrong, but can my hon. Friend look at the regulations again in order to see whether they can be made more effective in preventing stress to neighbours where excessively noisy machines are used late at night in shared accommodation and flats, and sometimes in buildings of very flimsy structure, because these places are very inadequate?

If my hon. Friend could show me any breach of the regulations by way of nuisance I should like to look into it. Excessive noise ought to be dealt with under the Public Health Acts.