Housing - here's some I made earlier

As a councillor, as well as prospective MP, I advocate meeting the need for affordable local homes. And I have been calling on our local Councils to work together - and with Labour in government - to that end.

There is a growing need for social housing, with the Cornwall Council website saying 3,400 households are registered as in local housing need in this constituency. I want every one of those families and individuals to find homes which meet their housing needs sooner rather than later.

The Liberal Democrats practical track record on this issue in Cornwall is utterly abyssmal. To be fair, let me acknowledge two things first. Matthew Taylor MP's report for the Labour government includes some sensible proposals which have support in the housing sector - I hope these will be implemented. And it was the Liberal Democrat led former district council which decided to set up Carrick Housing Ltd, which is now an award winning registered social landlord. This had two direct results: it made the management of Carrick housing independent of Council decision-making, while allowing the Council to retain public ownership of the properties as assets.

Carrick Housing Ltd successfully accessed Labour government investment to improve homes whose maintenance had been neglected since the Tories sought to abandon public responsibility for social housing and homelessness. New rooves, cladding, central heating, kitchens, and bathrooms were installed as needed in most Carrick Housing properties. At the same time, with a vocal tenants forum able to have a formative influence on Carrick Housing's decision making, they have been positive partners in the development of new community centres and other projects to improve previously neglected local neighbourhoods, including effective action to tackle anti-social behaviour. And it was Carrick Housing which first made Cornwall eligible to build new council housing.

There is a catalogue of reasons why I say the Liberal Democrats record is abyssmal. Here are just four examples:

(1) When considering the latest draft local action plan for Truro and Threemilestone, I proposed Truro City Council advocate more than one in three homes be affordable. With one abstention, Liberal Democrats voted against more affordable homes when the Council agreed by a majority vote to include a 50 per cent target for affordable housing in new developments.

(2) When the Liberal Democrats led Carrick District Council, they sold some council-owned land which had been set aside for housing, next to the Malpas Road estate in Truro. They then allowed the private housing developer who had purchased the site to buy their way out of the usual requirement to include one in three affordable homes in a new development of more than 45 properties. So the Liberal Democrats waved goodbye to even 15 new affordable homes within walking distance of Truro centre, on a site that had originally been bought with public money to meet council housing need. And then, to make their intentions even more woolly, the Liberal Democrat MPs and prospective candidate for the Carrick area had themselves photographed at the gates of the construction site, and included it in their leaflets alongside calls for more affordable homes.

(3) When the Liberal Democrats led Cornwall County Council, the new Richard Lander School was built. Draft local plans identified the former school as a new housing site, the only substantial proposed housing development which has support of a majority of residents in the ward where I'm a councillor. Instead of making its land available for new social housing, the Council decided to market it to the highest bidder. The prospective purchaser then pulled out. One of the last acts of the outgoing Liberal Democrat led Council was to apply for planning permission to continue to use the old school site as business premises for up to three years - clearly they were not in a hurry to build new affordable homes.

(4) Neither Liberal Democrat MP will be a candidate in this constituency at the next general election. While both chose to make affordable housing an issue at the 2005 general election, neither then publicly challenged the failure of Councils led by their Party to maximise the practical delivery of more affordable local homes. Julia Goldsworthy MP's wobbling and contradictory statements in different forums on proposed housing developments in Cornwall makes jelly look like a solid and stable material - and I have not heard her say anything at all about locally controversial specific proposals such as new student flats in Penryn.

Apparently cast in the same woolly mould, a recent leaflet from the Liberal Democrat prospective candidate here, headed 'The facts' suggests 3,000 - not 3,400 - families are registered in local housing need; and blames 'Margaret Thatcher's right to buy policy' for local housing shortages - when in fact the increase in house prices means Carrick Housing say they are not losing any local housing stock to tenants' right to buy. Out of date, and no comment on the more recent dire failure of elected Liberal Democrats at every level to deliver more local homes - it seems it is easier to blame a Tory prime minister who was elected 30 long years ago partly on a popular platform of extending housing opportunity.

When the new Cornwall Council cabinet was announced in June, I immediately contacted Independent councillor Mark Kaczmarek, who is the housing portfolio holder, and asked for a meeting. I urged him to do two things in his new role - for the new Council to take up opportunities to bid for housing investment from Labour in government, including building new council housing, and to make some of the land owned by Cornwall Council available for housing development while retaining ownership of the land, because this makes it possible to deliver more lower-cost housing.

At the same time I made this campaign video about Cornwall's housing needs, calling for more action by the Council:



The Council didn't bid in June - it wasn't something the Liberal Democrats put in hand before the voters chucked them out - but the new Council has now agreed two things: to build new council homes, with Truro (Tresillian) and Falmouth included in the first three sites. And to bid for funding to build up to 900 homes on Council-owned sites, including 265 homes for older people and those with disabilities. The locations have not yet been announced.

Cornwall Council is still going to be a long, long way away from meeting local housing need if these proposals come to fruition - over 19,000 households are in housing need. Politics won't stop me welcoming the prospect of more affordable local homes if the new Council's bids are successful - they will after all be built thanks to Labour investment. And I will be watching closely at every stage to maximise new homes for families in this constituency, which has one of the highest levels of housing need in Cornwall.