Horsham Labour Party intends to 'call in' Horsham council's decision to reduce affordable housing provision from 40% to 20%.The decision was announced by our chair, David Hide, in a letter to the West Sussex County Times. The letter prompted a story by the WSCT on this subject. The letter and story were both printed in today's edition of the paper.
I am heartened to read in your newspaper of June 26 the angry responses from all sides to the announcement by the council that it has accepted the offer from Berkeley's of just 20 per cent affordablehomes on the West of Horsham development.
Horsham district council's decision to cave in to what would appear to be the developer's first offer is unacceptable.
Both the percentage accepted and the segregated nature of the development fly in the face of the council's own Housing Strategy document published in autumn 2008.
The document contains the following two commitments - 'it is important to keep affordable housing as high as possible, at a 40 per cent minimum' and that affordable homes 'are constructed to a high standard, are energy efficient and promote sustainable, balanced mixed communities'.
It the failure to address these two points that has led Horsham Labour Party to investigate the possibility of calling in this decision, and we will be writing to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in this respect.
The Tory-run council has a history of chronic under-delivery of affordable homes with Horsham having just over half the amount of affordable housing compared to the national average for local authorities.
With the Labour government's commitment this week to funding 100,000 affordablehomes across the country, we cannot let our council, once again, renege on its own commitment to provide affordable homes that are so vitally important to our communities.
Horsham Labour Party welcomes the support of any individuals or organisations in our campaign to overturn this decision.
David Hide
Chair
Horsham Labour Party