There are two contrasting views on housing in this week's West Sussex County Times. On the letters page there is a letter about how provision should be higher, while a few pages later there is a column by Philip Circus saying that we don't need any more at all.Philip Circus' column blames housing demand on three main factors, two of which are immigration. He seems to be saying that we should stop immigration, pull up the drawbridge, stop people having so many children and generally turn the clock back about fifty years so that demand just goes away.
We are still in two minds about whether and how to respond. On the one hand we fundamentally disagree with everything he is saying, but on the other hand suspect he enjoys the attention, deliberately provokes it, and only gets encouraged by it.
In the meantime, here is the letter:
A result of decades of meetings
by Ray Battersby
So we hear from county council leader Henry Smith in his column in the County Times (October 30) that there is a 'massive 17,226 people' on the Tory housing waiting lists throughout West Sussex.
Why should we be surprised? Regrettably, this is the result of decades of Tory county and district councils refusing to meet the housing needs of the community, particularly the young.
Indeed, only recently, Horsham district council buckled shamelessly under Berkeley Homes; demands to reduce the 40 per cent allocation of affordable homes to 20 per cent.
Doubly scandalous, hoever, was the letter to all Tory councils nationwide from Caroline Spellman, the Shadow Local Government Minister, advising that a Tory government would back them by bringing in legislation to revoke the regional strategies which underpin the required housing development.
To back up the threat to builders who, nevertheless, start construction on new houses later to be blocked by a new Tory government, she said: "We will not pay a penny in compensation."
The House Builders' Confederation slammed this letter and said: "Such action would lead to a hiatus in planning that can only exacerbate the supply crisis we already have."
So, the appalling housing record in West Sussex is Tory-generated. They have consistently refused to build what is required. They have little resolve, locally, to meet the required need and the Spellman letter shows that any Tory government wouldn't either.
The future for 17,266 people seeking affordable homes in West Sussex under Tory national, county and district administrations looks bleak.