Andrew Boff, Leader of the Conservatives on the London Assembly, says when it comes to new stock councils should only finance low rise and terraced housing Housing families in tower blocks does not work. 40,000 families live in such developments in London alone. I argued this week at the London Assembly’s Housing and Regeneration Committee […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. Mike Jones, the Conservative leader of Cheshire West and Cheshire Council and a senior figure in the Local Government Association, has reason to raise a sceptical eyebrow at how the details of the Government's compromise scheme over home extensions will work. But there's no doubt that Eric Pickles, who […]
Cllr Andrew Johnson, Cabinet Member for Housing on Hammersmith & Fulham Council, says waiting lists for council housing should be transparent and fair system and that the real demand is for low cost home ownership When people talk about the housing crisis within London the one statistic which is always quoted is the number of […]
The Communities and Local Government Select Committee has come up with a report suggesting that the introduction of Universal Credit will cause an increase in fraud. Evidently they are short of topics within their own remit as this is more a matter for the Department for Work and Pensions. It is one of those Select […]
Cllr John Moss, a councillor in Waltham Forest, has been asking how many Council tenants are living in overcrowded homes in contrast to those affected by reductions in Housing Benefit. He got an extraordinary response from Barking & Dagenham… Last week I put down a Written Question to the Cabinet Member for Housing in Waltham […]
Cllr John Moss of Waltham Forest Council welcomes the Budget's housing measures In the Budget, George Osborne offered further help to the housing market. Shared equity loans for first time buyers buying any properties and mortgage guarantees for those buying newly built homes. Ignore Ed Balls wails about the latter helping rich bankers buy second […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Yesterday morning I blogged some general thoughts on Cameron's immigration speech that he'll give later today. We now have some more detail on the PM's prepared remarks. His speech will have three themes overall: (i) Cutting immigrants' access to benefits; (ii) ending 'something for nothing' benefits'; and (iii) cracking […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Matt Sinclair of the TaxPayers' Alliance liked the populist measures – #Crosbynomics according to Matthew d'Ancona – but worried about the Budget's complexity: "Unfortunately, the great limitation of this budget was that it relied far too much on complicated targeted reliefs instead of tax cuts across the board. Simpler, […]
I was delighted to see in the Budget book some measures to boost the right to buy. There are three point: An increase cap in London, from 25 March 2013, in the maximum £75,000 to £100,000. The Government will simplify the Right to Buy application process for both local authorities and prospective tenants. It will […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter Max Hastings is a former working colleague of Simon Jenkins – the two wrote a gripping book together on the Falklands War – and a former President of the Campaign to Preserve Rural England. So it is scarcely surprising that he sees eye to eye with his old friend […]
Despite the economy, house prices are rising – and with wages so flat, the dream of home ownership for many people, especially the young, is further away than ever. Every day brings new calls to build more houses. It is an issue that splits the Conservative Party right down the middle – and not on […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. Buried away in the Financial Times's (£) story this morning about a "joint appearance on the eve of the Budget" that David Cameron and Nick Clegg will apparently make – to "make several announcements, including shared equity schemes, social housing and support for first-time buyers" – was the following […]
Cllr Jonathan Glanz, the Cabinet Member for Housing on Westminster City Council, says Ed Miliband has not thought through his latest class war initiative Ed Miliband’s public support for a ‘mansion tax’ is yet another broadside in the class war that he and his colleagues are so fond of but which, once again, demonstrates how […]
The good news is that right to buy sales have doubled. 3,495 sales have taken place since the discounts were boosted in April. There were over 2,000 sales in the three months from September to December which indicates sales are gathering pace as awareness grows, that figure is double the same period the previous year. […]
Around the country tower blocks are being knocked down. Few lament their passing – certainly Conservatives should not. It is no coincidence that the father of the tower block was Le Corbusier – a champion of Socialism and brutalism whose drab, souless architecture was so influential in the Soviet Union. The Socialist roots of modernist […]