A New Housing Drive
The announcements made by the Minister of Housing and Local Government on Tuesday are welcome evidence of the vigour with which Ministers are setting about the tasks con- fronting them. The essence of the new policy lies in the declaration that henceforward " the allocations are not a yearly slice of an annual cake; they are instalments upon an expanding programme "; in other words, local authorities may build just as many houses a year as they are able to build. And to advise, open out bottle-necks and straighten out differences between departments, new Production Boards, consisting of local representatives of the Ministries of Housing, Works and Labour, with an independent chairman, are to come into being. All this is excellent, subject to several provisos. There must - be no " jumping the queue "; local authorities with their new freedom to sanction the building of houses for sale, must see that the hciuses go to those who need them most, not to those who can pay most for them. Neither must housing standards be scrapped though there may well be room for more elasticity than Mr. Bevan was ready to permit; the cottages Mr. Mac- millan opened at Desford yesterday are a case in point. And the issue this week of a Ministry booklet of specimen designs is very opportune. Finally, it must be recognised that there are bound to be shortages of some essential materials. Some priority there must be given to localities where workers in essential industries are houseless. Subject to all this, everyone will wish Mr. Macmillan well.
Previous page
