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Wednesday, March 29, 1972
"But to make it a success, given that its tenants have been
established there for up to 17 years, requires patient and time-consuming
study of all human implications of the move," Mr. Lightbody stressed.
Above all, he added, a repetition of the impersonal transfers of
huge numbers of people from one area to another that characterized the
early years of the resettlement programme had to be avoided.
A new organisation would have to be created within the Resettlement
Department with the capacity to tackle such a "gigantic task" if that
"Laudable programme" was to be pursued, he said.
Exciting New Venture
"It is an exciting new venture that we have set ourselves and
I have therefore sought the creation, by supplementary provision, of a
new Planning and Research Division in my department to supervise it," he added.
Some 250 blocks in the old Mark I and Mark II estates built between
1954 and 1961 were definitely not satisfactory public housing for the 1970s.
"Honourable Members may be assured that I am no less anxious than
they to press on with this process, and to see the early demise of the old
estates that served us well in the early years of Government housing but
which now fall so short of today's needs."
Mr. Lightbody said that efforts over past years to put the needy
into simple but secure homes had been prodigious by any standards, but even
so, there was complete agreement on all sides that more had to be done and done
better.
"Many