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Housing

Volume 301: debated on Friday 28 November 1997

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To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what estimates he has made of the amount of unused or undeveloped space above shops; how much such space, involving how many residential units, has been developed for use in the last five years; and what proposals he has to encourage further residential use of this space. [17712]

The 1991 English House Condition Survey estimated that there were 26,000 vacant dwellings above shops. Results from the 1996 Survey are still being analysed. My Department does not hold estimates of the potential number of dwellings that could be converted from unused commercial space.One thousand eight hundred and seventy two flats above shops were brought into use through schemes funded by the Department of the Environment and the Housing Corporation between 1991 and 1995. We do not hold information on schemes developed using other public and private sources of funding.We support and will encourage activity which makes the most effective us of spare space above shops through our planning and regeneration policies. Research for my Department, published in August 1997, found that flats above shops schemes are most effective as part of co-ordinated regeneration strategies which local authorities have a key role in developing and implementing.The conversion of space above and the reuse of other upper floor space in town centres is encouraged in our Planning Policy Guidance, especially PPG3 and PPG6.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions to what extent the latest housing projections for England take account of estimates of the numbers of individuals who were not included in the 1991 census. [17714]

A detailed account of the methodology and main statistical assumptions underlying the latest household projections is set out in the annexes of "Projections of Households in England to 2016", published by The Stationery Office in March 1995. In particular, a description of how the number of individuals who were not included in the 1991 census was taken into account in compiling the household projections is given as an appendix to Annexe B. A copy of this publication is in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions to what extent the housing projections for England take account of the increase in (a) home-sharing, (b) cohabiting and (c) rent-a-room arrangements since 1981. [17713]

A detailed account of the methodology and main statistical assumptions underlying the latest household projections is set out in the annexes of "Projections of Households in England to 2016", published by The Stationery Office in March 1995. A copy of this publication is in the Library.A household was defined in the household projections, as in the 1981 and 1991 Censuses and official surveys, as one person living alone, or a group of people who share common housekeeping or a living room. People who rent a room or share a house will be regarded as part of the larger household or as a separate household depending on such housekeeping arrangements. Information on the numbers of separate households is obtained from the Censuses and (at national level) the Labour Force Survey. Additionally, estimates are made of concealed couples and concealed lone parents—those couples and lone parents who are part of another household—but these estimates do not form part of the total number of households. The incidence of cohabitation is taken into account in the compilation of the household projection by its separate categorisation in the underlying marital status projections, provided by the Government Actuary's Department. A detailed description of the treatment of the marital status projections and cohabitation is provided in Annexes D and G of the publication referred to above.