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12.50 pm
Solon Housing Association
Mr. Michael Stern (Bristol, North-West): The subject of anti-social behaviour by what newspapers frequently call "neighbours from hell" has been a staple of social housing throughout the country for some time, and the Government are, of course, in the process of taking steps to provide local authorities with the power to do something about such behaviour. Whether authorities such as Bristol will actually use the power is another matter.
My reason for raising the subject of 50 Concorde drive in my constituency and the behaviour of its shifting population is not just to draw attention to another example of neighbours from hell; it is also to note that housing practices by local authorities, which it appeared had been stamped out in the 1970s, are beginning to re-emerge in the voluntary housing movement.
In my younger days in politics, I was an active member of a Conservative organisation known as the Bow Group, and it was in 1976 that I was first asked, as an officer of that group, to edit a draft pamphlet on the use of local authority tenants as weapons against owner-occupiers in property that the council wished to buy in the London borough of Hillingdon.
The pamphlet was written by a young Hillingdon councillor, Michael Lawrence--who has since achieved rather greater fame by going on to do other things, such as running the stock exchange--and it concerned the activities of a socialist-dominated London council, led then by the now infamous Alderman Bartlett, which was buying individual houses in an area that it wished to dominate for local authority housing and was choosing less than satisfactory tenants to occupy them, in the hope that other properties would then fall into the council's lap and obviate the need for compulsory purchase procedures.
The pamphlet noted:
The Conservative Government were eventually successful in stamping out such socialist housing practices, not least by the repeal of the Community Land Act 1975. I should like to draw to the attention of my hon. Friend the Minister the fact that it appears that such practices are beginning to return, at least in the use of less than satisfactory tenants to change the character of a whole area, through the voluntary housing movement rather than through local authorities.
Solon Housing Association (South West) Ltd. purchased 50 Concorde drive in my constituency in the early l990s, with, I believe, Housing Corporation--that is to say, public--money, and in early 1994 it moved in as the new tenants Miss McNeil and her two children, who
are now aged three and six. Her brother, currently in prison, also gives 50 Concorde drive as his permanent address.
Solon, to quote from its statement of purpose, is
Mr. Stern:
I am afraid that I cannot. I have little time, so I shall not be able to give way.
In its 1994-95 annual report, a copy of which I shall place in the Library, Solon lists the various factors that it takes into account in assessing or selecting tenants, and notes that it regards itself as accountable to tenants and applicants for housing to the housing corporation and to local authorities. The House will note that nowhere in its resounding list of objectives is there any mention of working with individuals who might be affected by the housing association's activities.
The House will also note that there is no mention of what the association actually does--purchase existing housing stock if already owned or tenanted--although the 1994-95 annual report, having stated its aims and objectives as excluding purchase in those circumstances, then goes on to mention that, during that year, 15 such purchases were made. In addition, and perhaps not surprisingly, there is no mention in the report--unlike many company reports--of the addresses of the directors; I doubt whether they live next door to a Solon housing association property.
As with many housing associations, substantial amounts of public money, through the Housing Corporation and the single regeneration budget, are applied by the association in furthering its aims as stated, although some of that money inevitably went into financing the rise in rent arrears held by the association on its books from 1993 to 1995.
I return to the central omission from any of the housing policies, transfer policies or acquisition-of-information policies set out by the association in all its documents. Nowhere is mention made of any consideration whatever being given to the suitability of the tenant to the house that they are to be offered to occupy, despite growing public concern at the effects of anti-social behaviour by tenants on their neighbours.
The Government's own Green Paper, "Anti-Social Behaviour on Council Estates", published in April 1995, noted:
As for the garages grouped further along Concorde drive--one of the garages automatically comes with the tenancy of No. 50--complaints consist of numerous youths hanging around, vandalising cars, climbing on and damaging the garage roofs, under the apparent leadership, or at least the spirited concurrence, of the McNeil family, adult and children, which makes improvement of those garages by other owners a complete waste of time. More seriously, arson inside the garage belonging to No. 50, and the regular destruction of its doors, have led other legitimate users of the garages to park their vehicles elsewhere for safety reasons.
But it is the conduct of Miss McNeil and her circle that gives most cause for concern. Its impact on their immediate neighbours extends to perhaps a dozen houses on either side. Since the matter was first drawn to my attention in 1994, I have received reports of threats against other children; of fighting in the house, the garden and the street outside; of people coming and going 24 hours a day--in particular, a series of men late at night--of rubbish and stolen cars dumped nearby; of glass strewn in the road in the presence of Miss McNeil and regular visitors; of alleged drug activity; and of all the more common regular annoyances to neighbours that are associated with a house of this type.
Police activity is inevitably limited to regular visits and the occasional arrest for aggravated vehicle taking. Also inevitably--this brings me back to the main purpose of the debate--the activity of the housing association has been between limited and non-existent.
I first wrote to Solon's housing manager in December 1994, after Miss McNeil had been a tenant for a little over half a year. I received regular complaints from the occupants of adjoining houses--and the occupants of the garages adjoining that belonging to No. 50--throughout 1995, as I have throughout 1996 to date, and I encouraged the complainants to write to Solon. In the absence of any observable action on the part of either the housing association or any of its directors or officers, I wrote requesting an urgent meeting with the director to discuss what action might be available to the association.
I wrote that letter on 8 February this year. After reminders from me, issued on 19 April and 9 May, a meeting was eventually arranged for 14 June. At that meeting, it was explained to me that the delay was due to the fact that, shortly after my original request for a meeting, Miss McNeil had produced a series of allegations of racial harassment--I have not been able to establish by whom--and the association had considered it inappropriate to meet me while such complaints were being investigated, and, inevitably, rejected. Needless to say, I am not sure that I accept that explanation. The 14 June meeting was of no value: it did not chart even a potential way forward.
I know that the Government are already aware of part of the problem, and proposing probationary tenancies in order to prevent the terrorising of neighbours in at least some of the ways that I have described. It is a pity that, in Bristol--and therefore in housing associations that depend entirely on Bristol to supply a substantial number of tenants for the properties they own, or control in other ways, in that city--the emerging opinion is that such probationary tenancies would oppress tenants, and are therefore not appropriate to housing circumstances.
"It has always been possible through existing powers for a local authority to turn itself voluntarily into an active acquirer and developer of land, and some Socialist authorities have been particularly aggressive in this field. People living within the areas of these authorities have had to fight to preserve their homes and protect their environment using any appeal procedures available to them, and have experienced considerable distress in the process. In some cases their existing rights of appeal have proved inadequate".
The aim of Hillingdon at the time was, quite clearly, the increasing acquisition of private housing for municipal development, changing the balance of ownership away from the private individual.
"a locally-based housing association providing and managing good quality homes, working with people in greatest housing need, primarily in the inner city of Bristol. It is committed to working in partnership with tenants, local authorities and other agencies to achieve this aim. It intends to achieve its aim by: new build schemes on in-fill sites; bringing empty privately and publicly-owned properties back into use; working in partnership with Bristol City Council in the redevelopment of the renewal areas; maintaining and improving our existing housing stock".
Ms Jean Corston (Bristol, East):
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
"Such behaviour manifests itself in many different ways and at varying levels of intensity. This can include vandalism, noise, verbal and physical abuse, threats of violence, racial harassment, damage to property, trespass, nuisance from dogs, car repairs on the street, joyriding, domestic violence, drugs and other criminal activities such as burglary".
17 Jul 1996 : Column 1106
Inevitably, the majority--if not all--of these activities have been forced on the neighbours of 50 Concorde drive during the tenancy of that property, and the garage further up the street that goes with it, by Miss McNeil, her children and their juvenile visitors, who seem strangely reluctant to attend school during normal hours, and the more adult visitors who come to the house at all times of the day and night, frequently gaining entry by unorthodox means such as the bathroom window. Indeed, it is fair to say that there have been times when occupation of the house by the visitors has been more frequent than that by Miss McNeil.
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