Housing

Mr. Wigley

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what steps his Department is taking to help first-time house seekers in Wales to secure a house to buy or rent at a price within their reach.

A large number of first-time buyers are able to buy a house at prices well within their reach through our right-to-buy policy and, more recently through our pilot flexi-ownership scheme in mid-Wales. Furthermore, there are a number of established low-cost home ownership initiatives operating in Wales and several authorities have developed innovative schemes to meet particular local needs. The Department actively encourages the development of these schemes both through the dissemination of information and best practice and by allowing the beneficial treatment of capital receipts derived from such schemes. In addition, Housing for Wales, funded this year in excess of £100 million, will provide some 3,000 new homes to rent and to buy at affordable prices, including innovative schemes for the elderly and for homes in rural areas. These new homes will supplement the substantial number of homes available for rent each year by local authorities at affordable rents.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what information there is as to the number and proportion of homes in Wales (a) in need of repairs exceeding £2,000 and (b) which lack basic amenities; and whether the Welsh housing survey identifies those occupied by pensioners, unemployed single-parent families, disabled people and people with low incomes, respectively.

New housebuilding in Wales: 1979 to 1989
	Completions of new dwellings for local authorities, new towns and Government departments
	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
Aberconwy	125	—	123	—	38	—	20	—	—	—	—
Alyn and Deeside	29	32	52	50	86	39	30	33	49	31	29
Arfon	59	31	19	46	4	28	9	—	18	—	31
Blaenau Gwent	58	331	366	67	—	30	48	—	27	27	39
Brecknock	70	49	—	30	24	14	12	—	25	32	12
Cardiff	353	443	368	240	310	344	107	—	6	16	—
Carmarthen	22	66	55	61	132	46	28	18	43	13	4
Ceredigion	89	48	113	86	—	165	—	41	40	23	3
Colwyn	43	109	81	—	50	24	—	18	—	—	—
Cynon Valley	122	40	—	14	—	40	—	—	—	25	—
Delyn	—	39	10	7	—	—	2	—	—	—	—
Dinefwr	34	54	52	2	22	55	16	34	30	2	—
Dwyfor	40	30	27	8	5	—	9	4	—	5	—
Glyndwr	100	13	114	43	23	4	—	—	—	—	42
Islwyn	151	26	119	44	25	64	21	40	64	21	28
Llanelli	70	34	78	26	42	—	67	40	70	—	81
Lliw Valley	211	124	132	91	90	111	22	34	33	21	6
Meirionnydd	33	54	51	16	33	12	—	—	1	—	12
Merthyr Tydfil	75	218	156	12	7	9	—	—	4	12	20
Monmouth	—	93	6	80	71	60	107	74	15	—	16
Montgomeryshire¹	141	98	99	26	41	103	—	64	8	26	73
Neath	103	56	43	18	71	76	16	26	38	39	4
Newport	159	85	285	172	43	169	67	119	42	261	111
Ogwr	97	131	202	79	9	60	139	40	51	8	—
Port Talbot	60	—	24	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Preseli Pembrokeshire	62	62	3	16	—	—	—	9	24	21	20
Radnorshire	39	30	20	20	—	69	10	2	12	—	—
Rhondda	78	161	116	27	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Rhuddlan	24	57	25	37	40	59	24	44	42	—	24
Rhymney Valley	70	169	161	58	73	79	30	15	—	18	24
South Pembrokeshire	88	65	—	—	6	1	20	—	—	—	—

The information is given in the following table; that for disabled people is not available.

Repair Costs and Availability of Basic Amenities, By Household Type¹
Occupied first homes	Number	As a percentage of all occupied first homes²
Repair costs of £2,000 and over	180,900	17·7
Of these:
Household headed by person of pensionable age	71,200	7·0
Single parent household headed by unemployed person	500	—
Gross household income less than £4,000	90,900	8·9
Lacking one or more basic amenity	42,200	4·1
Of these:
Household headed by person of pensionable age	22,600	2·2
Single parent household headed by unemployed person	200	—
Gross household income less than £4,000	28,600	2·8

Source:

¹ Welsh Housing Surveys, 1986. Figures are estimates based on the results of sample surveys and are rounded to the nearest hundred.

² "—" represents less than one half of one per cent.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many houses were built in (a) the public sector and (b) the private sector in each district authority area in Wales in 1989; and what were the corresponding figures for each year since 1979.

The information is given in the following tables. Figures exclude dwellings provided by rehabilitation or conversion.

	Completions of new dwellings for local authorities, new towns and Government departments
	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
Swansea	153	107	63	126	29	105	57	—	29	53	9
Taff-Ely	104	227	110	62	85	90	—	12	54	58	24
Torfaen²	345	313	145	137	252	131	112	122	20	33	—
Vale of Glamorgan	13	69	124	49	24	20	18	36	3	28	6
Wrexham Maelor	6	42	113	69	62	61	66	11	55	—	12
Ynys Môn	109	198	81	61	41	84	18	34	9	21	—
Wales	3,335	3,704	3,536	1,880	1,738	2,152	1,075	870	812	794	630
¹ Includes dwellings in the New Town of Newtown.
² Includes dwellings in the New Town of Cwmbran until April 1986.

	Completions of new dwellings for housing associations
	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
Aberconwy	10	0	0	0	12	0	0	0	0	0	24
Alyn and Deeside	0	33	0	0	0	0	24	19	0	0	0
Arfon	0	25	52	12	0	0	1	9	30	20	40
Blaenau Gwent	0	0	0	0	0	0	33	38	40	0	64
Brecknock	11	18	22	36	30	0	0	0	12	0	65
Cardiff	223	207	76	180	57	38	117	38	23	214	462
Carmarthen	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	0	23	21	2
Ceredigion	30	43	12	10	0	0	0	17	12	43	65
Colwyn	25	0	50	34	2	15	0	0	10	30	34
Cynon Valley	0	0	0	46	14	0	0	40	40	34	67
Delyn	0	0	0	0	0	18	0	16	0	0	12
Dinefwr	40	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	23	22
Dwyfor	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	35	21	8
Glyndwr	0	46	0	0	0	0	0	8	9	10	7
Islwyn	0	0	0	12	37	13	8	0	0	0	0
Llanelli	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Lliw Valley	0	0	0	0	0	54	0	14	0	0	14
Meirionnydd	0	0	0	0	0	0	10	0	0	0	0
Merthyr Tydfil	142	154	0	154	80	15	3	0	14	28	26
Monmouth	0	0	63	0	0	39	0	0	0	74	121
Montgomeryshire¹	0	0	0	0	0	12	15	19	0	23	79
Neath	51	76	0	0	11	24	0	10	0	32	0
Newport	60	0	0	6	0	54	84	74	0	9	0
Ogwr	0	116	28	49	58	0	0	0	0	0	0
Port Talbot	0	0	91	8	0	0	0	39	28	6	40
Preseli Pembrokeshire	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	29	33	0	29
Radnorshire	24	35	0	17	34	13	0	37	0	6	4
Rhondda	0	0	0	0	0	0	12	12	8	16	73
Rhuddlan	34	0	24	0	39	0	10	0	0	12	16
Rhymney Valley	134	54	0	21	64	6	9	27	14	4	80
South Pembrokeshire	0	0	0	0	6	30	0	0	0	0	0
Swansea	128	14	0	0	76	118	88	33	46	44	50
Taff-Ely	0	0	0	0	0	24	68	20	12	0	16
Torfaen²	2	0	0	117	0	0	58	7	0	12	0
Vale of Glamorgan	70	78	61	51	9	68	0	0	31	0	0
Wrexham Maelor	32	18	61	41	0	52	0	28	47	20	24
Ynys Môn	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	21
Wales	1,016	917	540	794	529	593	607	534	467	708	1,465
¹ Includes dwellings in the New Town of Newtown.
² Includes dwellings in the New Town of Cwmbran until April 1986.

Completions of new dwellings for the private sector
	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
Aberconwy	102	48	59	81	67	35	260	156	255	132	151
Alyn and Deeside	228	151	79	151	181	170	98	150	208	294	148
Arfon	75	121	101	87	64	47	98	83	110	112	101
Blaenau Gwent	3	19	0	18	37	123	53	12	59	84	167
Brecknock	117	108	87	80	75	90	108	82	84	116	150
Cardiff	458	495	639	694	686	695	1,165	1,219	1,458	1,894	1,070
Carmarthen	71	140	148	92	125	236	120	145	169	270	205
Ceredigion	198	238	165	149	134	189	132	171	149	227	262
Colwyn	305	263	156	159	261	212	235	252	241	355	358
Cynon Valley	35	13	83	40	112	102	53	52	60	66	148
Delyn	166	197	150	134	106	140	106	210	189	212	229
Dinefwr	61	104	88	39	51	60	88	54	69	140	222
Dwyfor	186	168	71	64	110	62	66	61	69	82	83
Glyndwr	110	74	112	101	135	131	183	182	116	89	249
Islwyn	12	0	43	22	75	43	115	88	25	31	87
Llanelli	105	91	72	67	105	45	103	98	51	38	63
Lliw Valley	114	160	108	71	153	203	180	130	160	88	233

	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989
Meirionnydd	62	74	49	55	2	25	54	46	19	72	51
Merthyr Tydfil	108	70	15	30	75	68	113	83	127	153	165
Monmouth	392	291	247	211	254	427	364	348	376	414	327
Montgomeryshire¹	170	282	202	174	195	92	165	231	298	283	317
Neath	124	137	115	72	58	55	50	90	94	161	141
Newport	375	323	374	304	184	124	702	527	335	376	453
Ogwr	365	319	265	273	375	359	351	275	438	527	399
Port Talbot	29	11	34	32	9	15	12	35	15	79	87
Preseli Pembrokeshire	233	138	77	101	104	83	34	70	331	244	229
Radnorshire	104	76	62	43	40	106	79	74	130	171	216
Rhondda	38	33	45	27	9	16	19	16	15	124	81
Rhuddlan	233	166	179	115	108	183	129	143	109	122	67
Rhymney Valley	319	172	179	156	109	168	109	131	213	127	182
South Pembrokeshire	105	153	121	99	65	161	78	90	166	165	162
Swansea	358	212	197	136	278	211	78	313	361	497	302
Taff-Ely	380	262	152	190	172	178	286	306	330	527	437
Torfaen²	18	0	4	192	126	290	247	164	273	259	245
Vale of Glamorgan	395	163	41	267	256	448	159	383	457	463	958
Wrexham Maelor	436	379	363	295	295	484	207	422	250	388	371
Ynys Môn	294	281	223	261	204	200	141	134	166	153	182
Wales	6,914	5,932	5,105	5,082	5,395	6,276	6,540	7,026	7,975	9,535	9,298
¹ Includes dwellings in the New Town of Newtown.
² Includes dwellings in the New Town of Cwmbran until April 1986.

Volume 176: debated on Wednesday 11 July 1990