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Mining Area, Northumberland

Volume 159: debated on Monday 4 December 1922

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asked the Minister of Labour, as representing the Ministry of Health, whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that, at a coroner's inquest held at Ashington, evidence was submitted stating that, for lack of proper housing accommodation in the district, a workman was living in a cave on the seashore; and whether, in view of the fact that, before the War, private enterprise had failed to provide proper housing accommodation for the working classes in the mining area of Northumberland, the Government, now that building costs have fallen to a more reasonable figure, will yield to the many urgent appeals made by local authorities in the mining area of Northumberland to be permitted to proceed with their housing schemes in accordance with the duty placed upon them under the Act of 1919?

I have no knowledge of the circumstances of the case to which the hon. Member refers, but 166 houses have been built by the local authority for this district and a further number of houses have recently been approved.