Environmental quality and council house sales: A case study of North Tyneside,UK

Summary The residential environments in British urban areas are divided between those dominated by public sector (local authority) housing and those properties which are owner-occupied. It is widely recognised that the environmental quality of local authority housing estates varies considerably. It may be expected, therefore, that the United Kingdom 1980 Housing Act, which encouraged the tenants of public sector housing to purchase the dwellings they rented from local authorities, would have a differential impact, according to the environmental quality of those estates. However, this relationship has not been previously explored. Most studies have related sales to a range of socio- economic variables. Whilst these may effectively indicate ability to buy they do not necessarily indicate willingness to buy. It is argued that the latter may be more closely related to factors such as the quality of the local environment. Findings from the North Tyneside area in northern England suggest that the spatial pattern of sales is more closely related to an index of environmental quality than one composed largely of socio-economic variables. Some of the implications of this finding for policy in relation to public sector housing are then discussed. It is suggested that if the ultimate objective of the Housing Act is to promote a larger private sector, then initially this may require a considerably larger public sector involvement in environmental improvement.Dr Michael Barke, is the senior author, Principal Lecturer in Geography and Acting Head of the Department of Environment at Newcastle upon Tyne Polytechnic. He has published a number of articles on aspects of urban change in North-East England. Ms Julie Rowlands is a graduate in Environmental Studies from the same Polytechnic and currently studying for professional qualifications in urban and regional planning in Perth, Western Australia.