asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will state the quantities of timber, bricks, cement, and slates now available for the purposes of the building trade; the extent to which these quantities compare with the quantities available at the corresponding period in a pre-war year; further, whether, in the allocation of building materials, priorities are accorded to local authority houses, and if so, in what order and to what extent.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Building Supplies.
Information in the precise form requested by the Deputy is not readily available. The position is that supplies of bricks, cement and slates are sufficient for the amount of building work that can be undertaken with the limited supplies of timber which are reaching the market.
Since imports of timber were resumed the quantities for the purchase of which contracts have been placed abroad amount to something more than 13,000 Petrograd Standards. *This quantity, together with the much smaller quantity which can be obtained from the native woodlands, is sufficient to keep building activity for the present at somewhere about pre-war level.
The priority to be given to housing schemes of local authorities and the rate at which work on such schemes should progress are set out in the White Paper published by the Government in February, 1945, entitled The Post-War Building Programme. In the administration of the Control of Building Order the programme announced in the White Paper is being followed. When a licence under the Order is issued in respect of a housing scheme promoted by any local authority it may be assumed that the building materials needed for completion of the scheme will be available.
*Petrograd Standard 165 cubic feet.