(c) crown copyright
Catalogue Reference:CAB/129/53
Image Reference:0007
THIS
D O C U M E N T IS T H E
PROPERTY
Printed
OF H E R
for the Cabinet.
H
BRITANNIC
June
MAJESTY'S
GOVERNMENT
1952
^
C O N F I D E N T I A L
Copy N o .
C. (52) 207
20th June,
1952
CABINET
A
PROPERTY
OWNING
DEMOCRACY
NOTE BY THE LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL
H a v i n g regard to our general endorsement of the idea of a property owning
democracy, I ask m y colleagues to consider whether it would not be possible for
us to advance this excellent principle into practice.
W e a r e now, in my submission concentrating unduly o n the provision of
Council houses, which m a k e a considerable d r a i n on the resources of the Exchequer.
All Council houses involve raising from public funds t h e whole cost of the
house, and some of this is repayable over a long period of a m o r t i s a t i o n ; the rest,
in the form of subsidy, is never repaid, and remains an a n n u a l drain o n our
resources.
T h e present cost of building is so high that it is reasonable to suppose that
over a period of years it will d r o p . 1920 houses cost well over £1,000, and by the
middle thirties builders were doing everything they knew to sell similar houses for
£300 to £400. T h e difficulties of a m a n w h o wants to p u t u p his own house, with
t h e aid of a Building Society, have also b e e n m a d e greater b y our own financial
policy of putting u p interest rates. A m a n w h o wants to buy his own house from a
Building Society m a y h a v e to pay 45.5'. a week (for twenty years); b u t the sub­
sidised t e n a n t of a precisely similar post-war Council house finished to-day only
has to p a y a rent of a b o u t 18s.
These facts force m e to the following conclusions: —
(1) W e would d o well to implement o u r promise a n d help people t o o w n their
houses.
(2) W e should allow anyone w h o wants to build a house of u p to, say, 1,000
square feet to be free to d o so anywhere, without a n y restriction d u e to
local limits to n u m b e r s of houses licensed.
(3) W e should be p r e p a r e d to p a y a subsidy to the private purchaser of a single
house which he proposes to use for himself, with control over resale or
letting for a period of years (on t h e lines of the conditions for municipal
houses in the Bill at present before Parliament).
T h e a d o p t i o n of such a policy would n o t m a k e any large d r a i n on our material
r e s o u r c e s : it would encourage the small local builder, w h o n o w mainly occupies
himself with repairs and could be at least as well occupied in building some new
h o u s e s ; it would remove in some measure the herding of m o r e people into these
h u g e C o u n t y Council housing areas, which become predominantly Socialist in
political o u t l o o k : it might assist in the provision of houses in rural areas, where
large Council building estates are n o t either easy to provide or suitable: a n d it
would relieve the E x c h e q u e r of the need to raise the a m o u n t of the local loan that
w o u l d be saved by the p r o p e r t y owner using his own money or borrowing from a
Building Society.
W.
Privy
Council Office, S.W.
20th June, 1952. 42445
I,
7 2