New Labour tries to cover up dismal housing record with smears
Party seeks scapegoat for homes shortage as government puts brakes on house building in Oxford
Plans by the city council for new housing in Oxford are under threat due to a recent ruling by the Labour government.
According to a report in the Oxford Mail, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, has announced that ‘although affordable housing and homelessness are key issues for the city
it will not allow “wasteful” development on Green Belt land,’ (15 November).
The government’s decision could put a stop to attempts by the city to get 5,000 new homes built on empty land south of Grenoble road, next to Greater Leys.
However, in an extraordinary move, local New Labour politicians have sought to pin the blame for the lack of affordable housing in Oxford on the IWCA. Despite the lack of any credible evidence for
this, Labour has seized on a recent vote on new social housing at the Trap Grounds in North Oxford to support its bogus claims.
The accusations appeared in recent Labour leaflets distributed in Blackbird Leys which point out that the IWCA voted against building on the Trap Grounds.
This bit is true. But what the leaflet doesn’t mention is that the IWCA voted against this particular development because it is situated on a flood plain and could therefore cause problems down
the line for tenants. Significantly, developers have avoided using this plot of land for private housing in the area.
The Environment Agency has also objected to the development on the grounds that bore holing hasn’t been carried out to make sure the land is safe to build on. The Labour council has refused to do this
as it wants to leave it up to the developer but there is no guarantee that it would then be done properly. Labour has already spent £30,000 of taxpayer’s money pursuing the right to go ahead with the
project through the courts and is set to shell out more money on an appeal that it may not win.
While the IWCA is firmly behind the building of more social housing—the organisation has been calling for this since it was first started and has repeatedly voiced support for the proposals to build affordable homes on Green Belt land south of Grenoble Road—this doesn’t mean we are willing to give the go-ahead to developments which are likely to result in substandard accommodation.
Labour, on the other hand, is so desperate to claim it is providing new housing in the city that it is happy to overlook any problems future occupiers could be saddled with.
Churchill IWCA councillor Claire Kent commented, ‘Labour’s attitude is disgraceful. Their thinking seems to be: who cares if it floods, what does it matter if the building or planning is shoddy—the
recipients of social housing should be grateful for what they are given.’
This attitude of class disdain was underscored at a recent meeting over the Trap Grounds development. Responding to middle class NIMBY objections that pets brought into the area would damage the
environment, North Oxford Labour councillor Susanna Pressel actually suggested that people moving into any new social housing on the Trap Grounds ‘should be banned from having pets’.
Needless to say, the IWCA councillors present made it clear that treating the occupants of social housing differently in this respect to residents of private housing would be totally unacceptable.
Too little too late
Labour’s current housing plans were described as ‘too little, too late’ by IWCA activist and housing adviser Maurice Leen.
‘With five thousand on the council waiting list and many more working class people with no hope of getting social housing, Oxford is suffering a chronic housing shortage. In the light of this Labour
MP Andrew Smith’s claims to be instrumental in getting the government to build 200,000 new homes in the South East is just more spin,’ said Mr Leen.
‘Very few of these extra homes are even in the planning stage let alone under construction and now the government is already putting extra hurdles in the way of new housing in the area,’ he
continued.
‘For the last seven years the New Labour government has continued the Tory policy of phasing out council housing, which has had a knock-on effect on the availability of affordable housing in general
and rental accomodation in particular. The shortage of all types of accommodation has seen house prices almost triple since the current government came to power in 1997, making it almost impossible for
first time buyers and pushing up the prices for those renting their homes, whether from private landlords or social housing providers.
‘After seven years of inaction Labour making a fuss about unrealised plans to build a relative handful of new properties just won’t wash.’
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